Resurrection
by ShadowOfSelfDestruction
Summary: Meisha ran away from the Fire Palace in the hope of escaping her faith as Warrior, but her teammates are going to travel around the world to retrieve her. However, as they encounter new enemies and secrets, they come face to face with an old acquaintance: Azula. It's up to them to bring Meisha back home. Sequel to my story Revival.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: first meeting**

"You… Cut your hair."

She chuckled uneasily, obviously trying to diminish the damage that had been done to her body, trying to convince him she was doing fine, nothing to worry about, and hell some bullshit. A bruise after another covered her skin, scratches and deep wounds were clearly visible on her wrists, like she had scratched them for hours until the beating of her heart would finally stop. The long hair he used to remember her with that framed her face so flawlessly was shorter than his and had lost its shine, just like her eyes, those amazing blue eyes. One had lost the sparkle, one had lost the colour and had turned completely white, comparable to Toph's eyes. She was so impossibly skinny he began fearing she'd pass out or fall to pieces if he would hold her. In any case, he was willing to take that risk, for he hadn't seen her in so many days and _needed_ to hold her. The tears that were coming weren't suppressible, he clinched onto her and held her tighter than ever, sobbed and shrieked when he at least discovered one feature that was still the same as the old days: her smell. However that lively feeling he used to get when he held her was nowhere to be found, when he embraced her she didn't hug him back nor did she smile or cry or whatever, she felt like dead weight, she felt broken.

"How... Is, everyone?" she barely managed to say and he could hit her for asking that but of course he didn't. Of course everyone was doing horrible, she had left all of them only to find her back in this condition, like they hadn't been worried enough.

"Fine," he stammered between the sobbing although that was a terrible lie. "We miss you." That wasn't a lie.

"Good," and she pretended a fake smile like she was trying to make him feel better, for she knew there was no need for him to cry. This was for the best, now she was finally able to live a free life without being cursed with the burden of the Warrior. She'd never get what she longed for the most though, and that was still the same vague impossible dream: Kenshin.

"Mulan." A woman stood at the very top of the building, looking down on both of them as they were hugging each other like a mother would hold her newborn. Her obnoxious grin was enough to convince Kenshin he didn't like her, she wasn't to be trusted and furthermore, this woman was probably the cause of Meisha's condition. He narrowed his eyes and clinched on to his sword, but she only smirked as in 'like you could beat me with that'. "You're coming or what?"

Without much hesitation she broke her connection with Kenshin and bended herself with an upward stream of water up, he tried to stop her but was too late. They glared at each other for few infinitesimal seconds until a sharp pain in the head enforced and passed him out. He caught one last glimpse of her broken eyes before a man blocked his view and smirked as the boy was struggling to keep his eyes open. Kenshin sure looked a lot like his nephew.

* * *

**My dear fans, I am so sorry to disappoint you with this utterly short chapter. Though I am happy to confirm that this is only a prologue, more is on its way and don't worry, next chapter will be 9x longer. This is only to wind up your curiosity and excitement, do call me a sadist. Review, favourite and follow, don't forget, as usual! And I might ask you to stop adding as favourite or follow without review, it's actually quite annoying and I'd like to know all my fans' opinion about the story, whether it's negative or positive. Any reaction is welcome. ShadowOfSelfDestruction.**

**For those who are retarded, this is a short prediction of the future, so yes the next chapter takes place before this happens. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: the beginning of a new adventure**

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"You're leaving?"

He nodded.

"Well you're not leaving without us." Amaya offered a hopeful smile to him as usual and held Nobu's arm closely like she had missed it for years. Well technically that wasn't incorrect, after all they hadn't seen Nobu for six months, and he was happy to see his best friend again, but deep down disappointed that the girl he had been waiting for for six months wasn't there. Talking about Meisha had become taboo, for the parents thought of it as too painful, the White Lotus thought of her as a traitor, and above all people Fire Lord Zuko had no idea what to think of it. He was having his hands full with protecting the Fire Nation and the rest of the world together with Avatar Aang, for the world had yet to face another threat: The Rebellions. Worst case scenario: Zoku's own father and sister were in command of this threat. Everyone was too busy to go after Meisha, the Avatar had to prepare himself as well as the Warriors who were supposed to stay by his side and support any help necessary. But being part of yet another war wasn't in Kenshin's list of plans. He was going to look for Meisha himself, alone if necessarily, but when he was packing his things his two friends and teammates entered the room and sent him a smile. Like he was going to do this alone, right, not if it came down to those two.

"You can't come, we'll all get in trouble. Furthermore, this is something I have to do myself…"

Nobu wrapped his muscled arm around his neck and rubbed Kenshin's hair with his fist like Nobu's elder brother used to do, after all they shared a brother-to-brother bond, and Nobu would never let his brother go out on his own. Kenshin's hair had grown to his shoulders and generally Kenshin had grown himself, unlike Amaya and Nobu who were still the same, quite normal since they were both older than him. It made him wonder if Meisha had changed over the past few months, if she had gotten even more beautiful and if she had matured or not.

"I don't care bro, you're nothing going all by yourself! If you die, I'll die next to you!"

"Dying? Really? Is that how you think of it?"

The three of them shrieked when the bald monk was standing in the doorstep of Kenshin's bedroom. He laughed by their expressions, three paralyzed adolescents presented before him standing in a rather pathetic ninja fighting-position. "I would've guessed you'd chase my daughter Warrior Kenshin, but I would've never thought you'd take your departure after being back for only three hours."

"We, erm, weren't – We just wanted to… Go to thaaa, toilet?!" Amaya hit Nobu on the head.

"Don't worry, I won't give you away," and he turned to the youngest Warrior of the three and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Kenshin," he spoke and looked him hopefully in the eyes, "I beg you, please bring back my daughter."

"I promise that on my life Sir."

That night with the help of the Avatar, the three of them ran off up to a whole new world, not knowing whether this travel would have any purpose at all. Yet they did have one thing and that was hope, the hope of bringing Meisha back to the place where she belonged. The firebender noticed his friends' determined faces, he too was one-hundred percent sure that they would find her, but on the other hand he was also afraid for the unknown. After all Kenshin had never left the Fire Nation before. Only once, and that was a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom, and that was a long time ago together with his mother.

The giant bison raised his sleepy head after hearing a ruffling noise, pitched its ears and yawned, when a group of elite Warriors walked in his stable, dressed in casual nation-fitting training clothes an carrying many supplies on their back. He watched the three of them with questioned eyes when the one he knew best – Kenshin – rubbed the gigantic fluffy arrow on his head. "Shht Appa, it's okay." Aang had trusted his guide animal to his student Amaya, for she was the only one who knew how to treat an air bison, so after they set up the saddle and stuffed it with all the supplies, sleeping-bags and other things, Amaya escorted the animal outside. Once outside she took place in the bison's neck and seized for the reins. Nobu wasn't really sure about the idea of a woman driving.

"So, how exactly works this th–"

"YIPYIP!"

Before they knew it the animal jumped up into the night sky and floated at the height of the clouds like being in your own dream, creating a breathtaking view that made Amaya smile when she turned around and saw both boys' overwhelmed faces. Amaya had gotten used to this view, yet this time was different, it was a sign of hope.

Kenshin watched from his seat how the Fire Palace was slowly fading away, his familiar environment was being left behind, and he left behind the only family left: his father and aunt. In that one year of not having seen Meisha, he and his father had been separated too. His dad had been given the choice of coming along with his son, but he had turned down the offer resolutely. It broke Kenshin's heart even more. Amaya her sisters had come with them, however this time they couldn't come along. Amaya had trusted her sisters to her sifu and after knowing the Avatar for a year she was sure he would take good care of them. They too grew up so fast, and the eldest of the two got along with Yoshu very well, they would be alright.

"You think we're going to find her?" Nobu asked with lowered eyes and a faint fake smile.

"First we're going to stop at the South and North Pole. Then we're going to track down the entire Earth Kingdom! We'll look in the biggest Earth Kingdom City Ba Sing Se! And if we don't find her after that we'll look for her under the ground, in the sea, on the moon! Everywhere!"

It was a good thing an optimistic girl like Amaya had joined the team, for it was her smile that increased the will to fight in both men's heart. Nobu looked at Amaya who kept her eyes on the road and smiled, this was exactly what he had missed.

* * *

It was a beautiful sunny day at the Fire Palace, Aang had already left his bed in order to catch up with his Avatar-business. Yoshu was playing with his toys as usual. The little fellow hadn't realized yet about his big sister's departure, he thought that Meisha was on a long vacation at the North Pole to learn bending and that she would, one day, return to the Fire Palace. He still thought that after Meisha's training, they would go back home to the South Pole. It was what his mother had told him and what his father wanted him to believe. He stopped playing after hearing a door opening.

"Avatar Aang, where are the Warriors, they were supposed to attempt training one hour ago!"

"How should I know?" and he raised innocently his shoulders. The elder of the White Lotus saw through his pathetic effort of lying. "Avatar Aang, it's already bad enough we lost one Warrior, shouldn't we be more careful with them?"

He turned around his bald head and stared at the endless sea on which he had a view, wondering how far they would be right now. If they would ever return in the first place.

"Avatar Aang?!"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't –"

"Aah, probably somewhere up in the sky heading for Roku knows where!"

He choked in his own breath, dropped his staff on the floor and ran away like a little girl crying for her mother. Aang chuckled. "You better bring back my daughter Kenshin."

* * *

"So, you didn't even know about Meisha's disappearance? Not a clue?"

"No, not at all, we did know Master Katara and Avatar Aang had returned from the Fire Palace a while ago, and they stayed here for at least half a year, but we thought Warrior Meisha was still training at the Fire Nation."

"Hmm, thanks for the intel. We'll make sure you get data about this as soon as we're on track."

It was a good thing Amaya travelled along, as much as the boys had some serious popularity issues, getting down to business and straight out ask anyone for information wasn't that much of their thing. Nobu was way too distracted by the pretty girls surrounding him as they had arrived at the South Pole, while Kenshin was busy shaking off at least twice the amount of girl. Fortunately his angry face would scare most of them, but some of them would clinch on to his arms and all he could do was roll his eyes. And when Amaya walked by, showing her sharp teeth and eyes catching fire, most of the girls around Nobu would leave as well. "Nothing, they didn't even know about Meisha."

"They didn't even know?" Kenshin asked.

"Apparently not. It's understandable that Katara and Aang didn't want to talk about it, but for the White Lotus to hold something back like this from her Tribe, I don't know."

"Ow relax sweety it's probably because they didn't want to cause any panic."

Amaya blew a strong wind in Nobu's face and he ended up in a pile of snow with his but still sticking out. Kenshin considered this thoughtfully. "As much as I hate to admit it, Nobu's probably right, we should move on."

Amaya turned her gaze at the snowy surface, eyes filled with sorrow as Kenshin turned around and prepared their bison to take their departure. She could feel how Kenshin was already losing his patience, results couldn't come soon enough, but the way how he was acting now was what filled her heart with sadness. There was something different about Kenshin, while he had opened up not so long ago and had finally decided to smile, he was now finding himself at the bottom of his black heart again, one where he would not talk about his feelings nor show any emotions at all. It was thanks to Meisha that he had changed, and it was thanks to Meisha that he had returned to his former self, hope was slowly dying in his eyes but the fire to find her was stronger than ever before. He would find her, even if it cost him his life.

* * *

Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

Losing yourself in the darkness. Withdrawn from society, unknown to the population, locked away behind a door, and as darkness was slowly crawling through Meisha's thick layer of naivety, she cried. She cried and couldn't stop, because neither would darkness. Every single day she would despise herself for having left the Fire Palace, and every day was turning out to be a day too much. Eroding by her own grief and sorrow she sat at the very corner of her room, crawled together like a foetus and waiting. Waiting for a certain someone, which hadn't showed up yet for days to be exactly. The door opened and she hid her eyes in her knees, the light burning. But instead of that certain someone showing up like she had yearned for every single day, it was the same pitiful appearance as usual. Dark hair, brown eyes and red lips. How she had begun hating the combination of those colours now.

"Look at yourself, you look like a mess. It's pathetic." If the woman wasn't the former Fire Nation's heir to the throne, she would've probably spit on the floor before Meisha's feet. Instead of that – the royal Fire Nation's princess as she was – she kicked her in her side making Meisha crawl together even more. "What is wrong with you, get up."

It had become a habit, when Azula would walk in Meisha was supposed to get up and cooperate willingly, she was expected to do it, contributing behaviour would be oppressed immediately. If Meisha wouldn't obey, Azula would grab her by the hair and pull her up if she had to, however that used to be a lot easier when she had long hair. Her hair was now cut, short enough for a common boy's haircut. Her left eye had turned blind, because every time Meisha would arrive home she was too exhausted and emotionally unstable to heal it, and now it had come this far it had turned so blue it almost looked white. Azula wouldn't mind though, she described it as a marvellous addition to Meisha's appearance, and customers seemed to like it too.

"Get ready, I'm not going to wait forever."

Slowly but surely Meisha put on the dress that Azula offered her without much hesitation. Her spirit to fight had flown a long time ago, it had broken together with her heart, she didn't saw the value of life anymore, it might as well end right here right now, she probably wouldn't even notice. She combed her hair in an effort though it had been cut that badly it would look like a mess day in and day out. The dark circles around her eyes she couldn't camouflage, not much to Azula's liking. By the look of the dress in the mirror it was to be used for a customer which meant no training. If Meisha could choose honestly, she preferred the bitter hard training above the customers. At least her Master wouldn't touch her in all the wrong ways.

They walked to the most deserted places of a city near theirs, Meisha up front and Azula behind her disguised in an Earth Style cloak. She remembered how they had been here before when she recalled the man behind the fish stand yelling 'three for the price of two'. However, when her eyes were gazing at him he did not look back. He recognized the girl for sure, but was too humiliated to look back at her. And at the very end of the street they went left where the alley was dark and that while it was broad daylight, where a man with a scar that would cover his entire face was waiting for them, smirking, and leaning against the door of his residence. A pipe was sticking out of his mouth on which he would nibble perversely. The look in his eyes was as obnoxious as his smile, obviously he was from the lower class, and obviously he had some business with the local drug industry.

"You weren't lying Miss, not bad at all."

"One hour," she responded threatinly and seized for the money which he threw towards her.

Azula would sell the little girl to men in spare time, so she could be of any use. The organization which she had founded was an expensive one, weapons needed to be paid especially now that the newest invention 'guns' was coming up, they could be of any use. Furthermore there was also the communication which needed to be paid, messengers had to be paid in black and they asked a lot of money alright. Only natural of course, working for the enemy carried a lot of responsibilities and risks, some of them wouldn't make it while others were fractured for life. It was also something her father had assigned her to do, toying with Meisha's emotional condition was a necessity if eventually the big day would come and she would be of use.

After an hour Azula would return to the man's house after having finished some important business, and when she arrived he was already waiting outside with his hand firmly around Meisha's small arm and a grumpy face. As Azula came forward he threw the girl in her arms but instead of supporting her Azula let her drop on the floor on which she didn't move. She was only shaking and having convulsions, so obviously he must have drugged her. "You can keep 'r, the girl was of no use at all. She's skin over bone and cries every 5 minutes. If ya don't mind."

He was showing Azula his hand and waited, but to all his expectations the object he had been waiting for so long didn't return in his hand.

"What," and she abruptly pushed away his hand, "are you trying to achieve with this?"

"I want me money back of course!"

"Give me one, good reason."

"She - !" But when Azula's dreadful eyes watched him, looking like a witch about to curse him, he shut his big mouth and closed the door behind him. When he was gone her eyes went from the door to Meisha still lying on the floor all crawled together and shivering, but she would only turn her eyes and walk away, expecting Meisha to follow her, which she did with the remain of power still having stored in her body. She tripled over her own feet a few times, her view was blurry and she felt like she was going to faint any moment. The drugs had taken their toll, unable to walk as she was she would fall on the bricked floor again, unconscious, so Azula saw no other option but to call for one of her followers and let her get taken away. Despite the fact that she had never known his real name, Kuro was one of her most loyal servants that would do anything for her, for he was madly in love with the princess. And of course, Azula would take advantage of that fact, so soon enough Kuro became Azula's little pet and watchdog.

There hadn't even a minute passed when Kuro would show up at the end of the alley, Azula could recognize his steps everywhere. You see, Kuro had an artificial leg made of steel so his right foot would sound different from any other human's footstep. The man was wearing his mask as usual which hid must of his face except for his eyes, while his hair was disguised with a black cloak. He wore a chest armour made of metal and dark clothes, 'supposed' to be unsuspicious, however the human eye knew better but to distinguish a criminal from a common citizen or tourist. But this was Kuro, and seeing a Kuro without a mask would be weird, who knows what might dwell underneath it.

They didn't exchange words, he picked Meisha up right away after having put her in a bag, threw the sack over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes and followed Azula back to their hideout outside the city, still keeping his distance because them being seen together could invite some unwelcomed guests.

"You can put her over there." They had arrived at their dorm, and Kuro placed Meisha very carefully in the couch and removed the bag, exposing her sleeping face to them. She was as fast asleep as a platypus-bear in the middle of the winter, Kuro could snap his fingers as much as he wanted it was no use, the drug had worn her off.

"It'll probably take a day or three before she can visit another costumer."

"Really, I should apply a note to her, 'not allowed to drug'." Azula sat down on the other cough and ate her apple like nothing special was going on, like her precious weapon was going to be fine as usual and like her watchdog was taking care of it. Kuro would always treat Meisha gently because they needed her, so his behaviour wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though it bothered Azula in any possible way. Again he would carry her to the bathroom and wash her, because every time Meisha would return she was obnoxiously filthy and she stank. Then he would dress her with fresh clothes and lay her down on her bed in her room, making sure there was bread available for her if the case would be she would wake up the next day, he adjusted the ventilation to make sure the air was dry enough for a waterbender not to bend water from it. Locked the windows, left a fresh book on her nightstand to read and closed the curtains. All of these things Azula wouldn't bother doing, Meisha had lost her will to fight a long time ago, she wouldn't even notice if the room would be filled with water or rather she wouldn't care. And leaving a book for her every single week eased the perniciousness. She could only hope that Meisha would be on her feet soon enough to get back to training. They had spent months finding a decent Watermaster that was willing to cooperate as a traitor and work for the former Fire Lord, and now that they had one Meisha would be incapable to train more than twice a week. It was tiresome, expensive, and a waste of time. Maybe Kuro was right about getting their hands on that Fire Warrior instead of Water, after all firebenders are way better than waterbenders.

"Princess?"

"What Kuro?! Didn't I ask you to leave already?!"

"Actually my Princess, you haven't," and he kneeled down in front of her, his head towards the floor, "I was wondering if you were alr –"

"I don't need your pity Kuro, you're supposed to leave after having finished your mission. So get out."

"Of course princess."

Kuro wasn't that much of the obeying type, in fact he was a most tricking, waspish man carrying most of the times hatred in his heart, the effect of having lived alone on the streets right from the beginning, without a mother or father. He was found a few days after his birth on the dumping-grounds near a burned up Fire Nation factory, demolished by a proletarian revolution where a waterbender was able to heal him right one time before he would've died. She carried him to the orphanage where he stayed for a few years. At the age of ten a blacksmith living in the Earth Kingdom had bought Kuro where he stayed for another eight years, living as the man's puppet and under the constant fear of child abuse.

Eight years later he was able to go and live on his own, so he went to school in the hope of joining the army. He got to know quite a few friends back then, shenanigans were Kuro's reputation, and he got in touch with his first best friend who he most of all wants to forget the name of. However, his friend was a genius and when they graduated lost touch. Kuro founded his own organization with old friends he had made back when he was a kid, criminals, prisoners, mafia, name it. So now, he worked for Azula, and it was not that he doubted his great princess' skills or anything, but he was truly worried. "If I may princess," and she already sighed hearing he still hadn't left, how much of an obsession did he have towards her? "Are we still sticking to the plan or are we going after the Fire Warrior as well?"

"I don't know Kuro, I'm getting a headache of it. I considered Meisha the weakest of the four so the easiest to entice, however, I had never thought she would turn out to be so pathetic. She's far from able to fight and considering the whole picture waterbenders are more to be used as healers in battle anyways. Furthermore, she still doesn't know how to control her Warrior Skills, I'm beginning to doubt whether she still has them or not. If so, it could be the Fire Warrior doesn't have them anymore either. If we would go after the Fire Warrior though, which is easy for we have Meisha to use as pawn, our entire organization could turn into an easy target. We have to think about this very carefully."

"It's most likely the Fire Warrior will come after Meisha, in fact, it surprised me he still hasn't shown up yet."

"Indeed, that's why I'm overthinking this very carefully... Didn't I ask you to leave already?"

"Right away princess," and he bowed and turned around, about to leave when that mind-toying tone of hers would show up again, almost humming and teasing, and she smiled.

"Oh and by the way Kuro." The tips of her fingers would connect with each other as she was leaning back in her chair. "Don't take any actions unless I order so. Or do you want to ruin our chance of getting our hands on that firebrat again like you had done years ago?"

He swallowed uneasily. That was years ago, back then he hadn't even met his beloved princess though that had been his goal. Then how did she – yet again, we are talking about Azula. "No princess, not at all. You can count on me."

"Very well, now go."

"Thank you princess."

She turned around in her chair and smiled ominously through her window.

* * *

"Pardon miss, have you seen this girl? No? Pardon sir, have you seen this girl? About this high, dark brown hair, blue eyes, pale skin? No? Madam, can I ask you –"

"No time!," and the woman pushed Nobu off as she was hurrying to get to her appointment on time.

"JEEZ! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?! I AM – " but before he could finish his sentence Amaya had already squeezed his mouth shut with her two finger, Nobu could swear he was able to see fire in her eyes. She whispered in a very angry way if it weren't yelling. "Hey, why don't we scream out loud that we're the warriors looking for team member number four! IT'S NOT LIKE WE'RE GOING TO DRAW ANY ATTENTION!"

While Amaya was busy lecturing Nobu, Kenshin wouldn't stop asking around whether they had seen a girl with pale skin and blue eyes around here. He went from person to person, one girl falling madly in love with him and her boyfriend almost starting a fight with him, a man with piercings all over his face who started crying as soon as he had told his story about how he was looking for his girlfriend all over the country, an old fisherman who yelled at his wife that weather was good enough to go out fishing and then started shouting at Kenshin. He had seen it all alright, and the lost one was an old woman telling him that he would definitely find her one day. His heart sank to his feet whatsoever, and when they stopped near a little café where they offered daily-fresh sea prunes. He was stirring around in his plate like it was a piece of art. Food wouldn't taste him at the moment, and least we forget sea prunes weren't necessarily Kenshin's favourite vegetables.

"You have to eat something Kenshin, build up your strength," Amaya told worried and tried to look him in the eyes, but he was too busy with fitting the right proportions for his masterpiece. "Some information would glide in more easily than these... things," and he looked up at Nobu in all despise who seized for Kenshin's plate and worked it all the way in. It was a miracle he hadn't thrown up yet.

"What, I'm hungry?"

"I thought so, how hungry are you if you can even eat something like that?" With that Amaya would laugh and she was happy Kenshin at least could still make jokes.

"Veeery hungry, thank you very much Mr. Grumpy jerkbender."

"Hey, I have news for you. In an hour or two you'll be able to puke-bend, furthermore, you won't be able to stop it. And guess what, no pit stops during flying. "

"Oooo you think you're cool huh! You, you... Okay you win this time."

"Five – one for Kenshin!" Amaya announced brightfully.

"Hey on which side are you?!"

The teasing proceeded for a little longer, Nobu would be the target most of the times, when a woman would have a seat next to them with her baby on her lap. It was adorable how the toddler refused to eat those sea prunes too, and it was obvious how much Amaya missed her little sisters having left them at the Fire Palace. A mission such as this one was way too dangerous for kids to tag along, or maybe she was just thinking about getting children herself? Amaya and Nobu had grown quite attached to each other these days despite Amaya lecturing him all the time and Nobu loving the female attention. They would share touching moments though, whether it was just a simple kiss or the touch of a hand, and Kenshin wouldn't mind being around, in fact he found it touching to watch. At least they still had each other, and it would give him hope not to give up. Now that he thought of it, did they still have their Warrior Powers?

"My my, are you three looking for someone?" the woman smiled while her child was pulling her hair and dress, kicking the table or throwing with a fork at someone's eye, and the next moment they heard someone screaming but the woman still kept their gaze to them, so as awkward as the situation might have seemed they decided not to mention her baby had just made someone blind. "We're looking for this girl," and Nobu showed her a paper on which she had to take a better look at for her baby was now crawling on her face. "She's been missing for half a year, she ran away from home after a fight with her –" he coughed, "father." She was silent for a moment and held the paper closer like she needed some glasses.

"Wait a minute... I've seen this girl before."

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER! Don't we love them. I started ignoring this story but having write this chapter I'm starting to know where I want this going to, yaay! Now I want my readers' opinion. You'll carry the faith of our dear Kuro in your hands. I want you to choose: should I let him become a good guy, or does he have to stay bad? Don't forget to review, add as favourite or as follow, ShadowOfSelfD.**

**Please do not add as favourite or follow without review, thank you. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: A valuable clue**

"Wait a minute... I've seen this girl before."

Kenshin spit out his water in Nobu's face. "What do you mean you've seen this girl before?! Where?!"

"Kenshin sit down. Let the woman talk will you."

So perhaps Amaya was right again, the way Kenshin had stood up from his chair was a bit confronting. But when the woman looked at the picture again and claimed she had definitely seen this girl, he couldn't stop the jump in his heart, or maybe it had just stopped beating. "My husband and I live in a village near Ba Sing Se, I've seen her a few times walking around with another woman, sometimes a man."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Who cares, we have to give it a –"

"No Kenshin, sit down! We haven't even considered the possibilities I mean, what would Meisha do in an Earth Village near Ba Sing Se! And what if this so called woman would appear to be dangerous! Do you even think before you act?!"

Okay Amaya was right, but an opportunity like this was too great to just slip through your hands. In any case taking their departure now would be pointless for it was already dark outside and therefore way too dangerous to go out flying. So they started planning their journey around the table, asking the woman when they would leave which was tomorrow-evening. Despite the fact that it was way too late for Kenshin, they voted to leave then as well as offering the family a ride. The young mother appeared to be a very friendly one, offered them a place to sleep which they took. They stayed at the woman sister's house for the night, Appa staying outside of course.

So now Kenshin was finding himself in the couch, annoyed and restless for his teammates were dancing around like penguins and enjoying themselves. How they were able to make fun was a big question mark for Kenshin, they couldn't leave soon enough, and having to stay for the night here surrounded by dancing crazy people tested his patience more than anything. Nobu had drunk, of course he had, each time he saw an opportunity to drink he took it. As long as he was able to get out of bed in the morning it wouldn't mind him. But unfortunately for Kenshin, he was supposed to share a bed with his friend, boys and girls being separated, and Nobu snored alright, he snored like hell when he was drunk.

At 6 am Kenshin got up and got dressed, went downstairs and had some breakfast although his hosts were not yet awake themselves. He helped himself out with their own food supplies, brushed his teeth, combing his hair was unnecessary for Kenshin's hair would always lay perfect. And as soon as that was finished he went outside for training. Appa released a big yawn when all of a sudden the firebender would appear in front of him, and instead of licking him a good morning he got up, turned around and offered Kenshin his best profile of his butt.

One fireblast. Ducking and a low firewhip. One jump in the air and bending the fire with your feet. Use the fists again. Form a firerope, turn it around, form a passage of fire, and bend the fire away by lowering your hands smoothly. In the exact same order as any other firebender would practise, Kenshin performed his exercises. After two hours he was satisfied with the result and went back inside. He wished he hadn't.

"Good morning my dear! Just in time to help me with the shopping!"

Amaya was already waiting behind the woman with a basket in her hand and a toddler in the other one, pulling her hair. There wasn't any chance to protest either, already a basket was being pushed in his arms, and with a smooth gesture she told the children to follow her. As optimistic as usual Amaya smiled at him with teeth so bright, and although Kenshin did not want to he tagged along anyways. Nobu wouldn't probably be able to help out. Let alone he would join for lunch.

In the end they took their departure at seven pm with a full-fledged Nobu sleeping in Appa's saddle. It was a long ride to Ba Sing Se, probably about an entire night, but at least they had hope. Kenshin kept telling himself not to expect too much of it, for the chance that it was wrong was rather enormous compared to the chance that it was right. He slowly remembered what Amaya had said. _What would Meisha do in an Earth Village? _Oh, I don't know maybe trying to hide since she ran away?! _This so-called woman could appear to be dangerous._ Well that was a risk Kenshin would take without much hesitation. In any case he would fly all night if he had to, to reach that village, the sooner they got there the better. And if that woman appeared to be danger, he'd take care of that like a real Fire Warrior.

_Meanwhile, in the Fire Palace._

"Avatar Aang, there have been some rumours going around the city like a fire about a lost Warrior."

"I'm well aware of that Iroh," Aang said as he was filling in some papers to invest money in a certain invention called 'car'. Seriously, what a waste of time. "We've been trying hard to keep this a secret, but it appears to not have been enough."

"Citizens notice it right away when there's something going on in the Royal Palace. There have been some ideas about planning a revolution if I heard correctly. Your people don't trust you anymore Avatar, for having kept your daughter's departure a –"

"I'm working on it."

Aang seemed rather tense these days. He couldn't stop worrying about his three little apprentices for a minute and thoughts would wander from work to Meisha several times. The citizens had started behaving strange, Fire Lord Zuko went on patrol with his guards at night to control the situation but he was still an occupied Fire Lord with a certain responsibility and a hell lot of work. And even if Zuko was trying to keep the peace in his village, as long as Meisha wouldn't all of a sudden emerge, there was no guarantee they would be able to suppress the citizens. Aang slowly felt like falling back to a second war if that were to happen, and he was also aware that Azula had something to do with this. Which concerned Zuko even more. Now that he had found out he was Meisha's real father, suddenly the letter his sister had written to him a long time ago had gotten clear, and he feared for Azula's reincarnation by using Meisha as a pawn. Aang and Zuko had sat together, considered the possibilities, and as Meisha was in such a fragile and seducible state, that idea could be confirmed. Now, they decided to split up the work in two: Zuko would keep things in hand at the Palace City which was after all the centre of the world right now because of Aang's presence so also the possible first one to shatter. He kept doing his Fire Lord responsibilities and got in charge of the overseas trade with the Southern Water Tribe. Aang would negotiate with other Nations, messaged the other rulers over the Nations and prepared potential armies if war were to break out again. He was also responsible for preparing the Warriors and refine the latest techniques, but for not having them around he was helping Zuko out with his paperwork. Despite the fact that Zuko now knew about his fatherhood, they were still friends and supported each other. But still it was a good thing that Katara had left with Yoshu and had returned to the South Pole for the meantime to let her husband do his work. Sokka had stayed, not that he was much of a worker anyways, but a close friend was always nice to spend your spare time with.

"Avatar Aang!" One of Zuko's trusted council members would barge in the desk, all worn out, reaching for air and covered in sweat. He was so much in panic he couldn't even recite his message properly. "The citizens!," and he caught his breath, "they have decided to go on strike. Numbers of people are parading through the city with large banners and pitchforks!"

"What?!" and Aang got up from his chair. They had started their preparations early, but it had appeared it wasn't early enough. This was only Azula's first step in a new conquering plan.

"Information about Meisha's disappearance has leaked, moreover the scandal about Fire Lord Zuko's illegitimate child has spread all over the country. They're outraged!"

"Where's Fire Lord Zuko?!"

"He's at the front my Lord, fighting with his soldiers."

This was terrible news. If this rebellion would last any longer the balance in this world would definitely flee. Now that the equilibrium had finally come to a settlement, this was to happen. And Zuko was finding himself in the middle of the fight. So Aang prepared himself, seized for his staff and hurried himself to the centre of the city, a thick smoke leading him the way when he eventually ended up at the city's marketplace where once had stand Fire Lord Ozai's statue, and to Aang's great astonishment that statue had returned. Houses were burning, children were crying, people were fighting, and blood was everywhere. On his way to find his friend he saved a mother and her children and helped a few soldiers imprison rebellions. In the thick smoke Aang saw the vague appearance of a cloaked man with an artificial metal leg, but as soon as his eyes were locked on it it vanished again like a shadow, when a familiar voice would draw his attention back to reality: war.

"Aang! I need some help!"

Zuko was forcing back a group of cooperating rebellions with his swords, when Aang blasted a powerful wind towards the men and they ended up against a wall, unconscious.

"Thanks."

"No problem, could you tell me what happened?"

Back on back they fought against the rebels by only using physical techniques, afraid they might hurt the nonebenders. "I had ordered my man to keep patrol during the weekly market, when one of them got attacked all of a sudden. He was stabbed with a knife through the heart." With an all too smooth gesture, Zuko turned around a man that was approaching him and pushed him with his head on the floor, when another one appeared holding a sword and screaming – a little bit like Sokka's surprise attack – emerged from the smoke, and this one was for Aang.

"I don't understand, why are they so overexaggerating?!"

"They feel betrayed, obviously," and he kicked a pocket knife out of someone's hand and hit him with a right fist. "They feel like my father was a more trusting and loyal man."

"What?! That's rubbish!" With his staff he hit three of them at once and blasted them to the other side of the market. Eventually, as the assaults stopped, the smoke started fading, giving a clear view over the damage. The city had fallen, the women had fled with their children and their husbands were being locked away. It was difficult to breath, not because of the smoke.

"Aang! Zuko! Over here!" In the distance they caught eye on a waving hand coming from under a pile of stones and Aang recognized that tanned colour. It was Sokka. They rushed their way to their friend and Aang bended the stones away, finding a ragged Sokka underneath it, fortunately still able to move. Still, his leg was badly injured. "Are you okay Sokka?"

"I'll be fine," and he seized for his leg, "that sure was a quick change of heart for the citizens. What were they thinking?"

"We need to take action now," Zuko confirmed, "if news spreads, it'll only take a month before other cities will rebel too. Aang, where are the boats heading towards with the women and children?"

"According to emergency plan A, the Earth Kingdom: Ba Sing Se."

"Tell them to change course and head for the Southern Water Tribe. Sokka, as soon as your leg's fixed, you'll be in charge of the refugees."

"Got it." This was Sokka's destined purpose, being the successor of his father. No man could've been better chosen for this. Zuko was a smart man, able to settle in the most unfortunate moments, a true leader. He acted like a real Fire Lord, and Aang wondered why his people wouldn't acknowledge that.

"I should go find my Warriors, we can't win peace without them."

"No Aang," Zuko spoke, "you go with Sokka to the South Pole, I'll go and search for them. Your wife's waiting for you."

"Zuko," he smiled, "I insist. These are my apprentices, and I am the Avatar. Your people need you."

They smiled at each other, agreed on data of return and further plans. Aang would go look for his pupils (after all he possessed Avatar powers that could help him with that), and Sokka and Zuko were to go back to the South and help the refugees. So they took both off. Sure Aang was slightly concerned about leaving Katara in Zuko's hands, but he had always known to whom Katara's heart truly belonged too. Besides, he had an importat task to fullfill himself. As they were both travelling their way to their destination, Zuko supporting Sokka to get to the boats, he almost felt like vomiting as he saw the numbers of dead people all demolished and blood-soaked on the ground, with eyes and mouths wide open. He looked back at his Palace, how beautiful the place had once been and how devastated it was now. For so many generations, this island had been in his ancestors' hands, and now look at it. It was only natural Zuko felt like this was all his fault, when oh so sarcastic Sokka got serious all of a sudden and offered him a little friendly punch as in saying 'everything will be alright'. He smiled a little and turned around again to get to the boat that was about to leave, leaving behind his home country after all this years, hoping it wouldn't last as long as last time.

* * *

"It's so nice and comfy down here, I understand why you and your husband decided to come and live here instead of Ba Sing Se."

"Oh no, my husband used to live here before I met him."

"I see," Amaya smiled.

With all due respect, the young mother was very kind, but why was it that Amaya kept making conversations with her?! For the record, Kenshin had planned that as soon as they had dropped off the family they would start searching for Meisha, but that wasn't according to Amaya's etiquettes. She believed it was a Warriors 'obligation' to offer their hands to the people, even if that meant unpacking or dragging a bunch of trunks. Nobu wasn't of any help either, claiming he was still feeling the after effects of yesterday. But at least they had made it to Shu Ma Se, a small village only 10 minutes away from Ba Sing Se, a very ordinary, comfy place to live. Not very busy, not very rich, not necessarily poor, and the following. They arrived at the family's house, took their leaves and decided to comb out the entire city split up in three. They rushed from man to man presenting them Meisha's picture but everyone of them would claim they had never seen her before. Having visited the local shops, restaurants and bars, they went to the outer corners of the city where the city's hotsprings were, but neither was she to be found here. Kenshin slowly began to give up and took a seat on a bench, all frustrated rubbing his hands through his hair in an attempt to calm himself. His feet were killing him and he was so worn off by the lack of food and rest. He decided to lay back and close his eyes for a minute, but fell asleep soon enough.

After half an hour he would wake up, still finding himself on that bench and an old woman was shaking his arm. "Young man, that girl has stolen your money!"

Curse it! Suddenly alive and kicking he got up and searched for a running girl, when his eyes would suddenly fall on one, long brown hair, really really small and dressed in blue Water Tribe clothes. It couldn't be...

"Wait!" but when she looked back and noticed someone was yelling for her, she ran away even faster. It hadn't been very long, but it appeared her eyes were blue. No, this couldn't be. "Wait! Hold on!" So Kenshin went after her, those entire years of training finally coming of any use as he was slowly catching up with her. She sure was fast for her length, unlike Meisha had been back in those days. Maybe she had been exercising a lot, or maybe this wasn't Meisha at all. In any case, he still needed to get back his wallet. If this girl would turn out to be Meisha luck was probably on his side. On the other hand, it would mean Meisha had just stolen his money, and don't say she hadn't recognized him because that's just a lame excuse. But damn she was fast, but that hair, those eyes, the way how she was running, she just had to be –

With only one jump she was finding herself underneath him and cursed after having ended up on the grass field. He blocked her arms by holding her wrists, just like he used to do back in those days, eyes fixated on her and startled.

"Get off of me you jerk!" and she pushed him off but Kenshin was just too strong. Only by her choice of words you could obviously confirm she wasn't Meisha. The hope he had felt just a second ago decreased to its normal low level, disappointed and angry at the same time. Well at least he had his money back.

"I'm sorry okay! Just, take your money and let me go already!"

"Give me a reason not to beat you up?" With a low, threatening voice he glared back at her, her blue eyes suddenly turning scared.

"I, you have to understand, I, my mother and I don't earn a lot of money and she's sick! I grew up as a thief in order to save myself from starvation! Please, let me go!"

So sure her story was all sad and so on, but why from all the people should he believe her? There was this huge possibility she was lying, for if there was one thing thieves were good at except for stealing, it was lying. Kenshin decided to pin her down just a little longer, in the hope of maybe gaining information. Another useful thing about thieves: they had ties with the enemy. It was only a quick assumption.

"What do you know about Azula and her followers?! Tell me!" She shivered and cried when he held a flame in front of her face. So maybe Kenshin was overexagerating, he got taken away by his feelings pretty fast these days. "Now?!"

"Nothing! I don't work for anyone! Everything I've been telling was the truth, I swear!"

"How can I possibly believe you."

"I can prove! More than that, I can offer you information! Please, just please don't kill me!"

"Information?" Yieldiing underneath his own hatred, he retreated the flame and gathered his coolness once more, and as he sat back a little, still not letting her go though, she supported herself on her arms to talk to him about business. "I can prove you that my mother's sick and that we're a poor family. But moreover, my mother knows more about princess Azula than most people."

He glared back at her as dusk slowly was falling on the village. "Take me to her."

The small thief knocked fiercely on the door, yelling out for her mother like it was a daily habit they had both grown accustomed to. While she was at it, he kept his eyes on her for if she would attempt another run, but she kept her place alright, and together they heard a woman stumbling down the stairs and cursing, unlocking several sorts of locks and – at last – opening the door.

"Yammie do you think it's funny waking me up in the middle of –" Her lecture stopped when she caught eyes on the handsome young man her daughter had brought along, and turned red when she realized she was looking like a mess with hair all pinned up and a papaya-mask covering her face. Unable to speak, Kenshin was the one who took the word first for her daughter wasn't going to introduce them. "My Lady," and he bowed just like the ordinary Fire Nation manners went, "on behalf of the council of the Four Warriors, the White Lotus, and the Avatar himself, I have come to ask you some questions about the lost princess Azula. If I may," and he gestured to come in, and the woman would open her door all too soon, probably thinking her daughter had brought back this handsome young man as her new boyfriend, and not to mention a friend of the Avatar! She hurried to the kitchen to remove the mask and quickly comb her hair, making tea for her visitor. In the meantime the air was filled with awkwardness in the living-room as Yammie her name appeared to be, was staring at the floor and avoiding his eyes. They lived very poorly, unlike the chambers at the Fire Palace Kenshin was so familiar with. Lots and lots of pictures were hanging on the wall, but also a bunch of articles from newspapers, like they were members from the police and were investigating several murders.

Yammie's mother rushed to the living room with teacups filled with hot tea as she offered Kenshin a cup. It smelled horrible, but he accepted it anyways. He wished he hadn't as soon as he took a sip from his cup.

"So," and she sat down with here and there a curler still in her hair, "that was quite a mouth full you said just a minute ago. I'm Dandan, nice to meet you."

"Lord Kenshin, member of the Order of the Four Warriors, the fire element to be exactly. How do you do."

"Fire – Warrior?.." Her cup of tea slipped out of her hands and behind her back Yammie stared back with widened eyes. The Fire Warrior was sitting in their living-room, at this very moment. "I'm so sorry Warrior Kenshin for the bad welcoming! Our place's quite a mess and I – I –"

"Please Lady Dandan," he calmly blinked his eyes and took another sip from his tea, forcing the obnoxious taste through his throat and swallowing it.

"How did you end up bringing Warrior Kenshin to our house Yammie?! You could've at least tell me!"

"Yeah well, that's actually quite the funniest story... You see, I was –"

"I'm investigating the disappearance of one of my team members, and your daughter told me you could help me with that."

"Disappearance of a team member," she repeated and stared at the floor, "so the rumours are true..."

"There are rumours?"

"If my ears do not mislead me, there's been quite a great rumour about a certain disappearance of the Water Warrior. I have a friend who lives at the Fire Nation, but she left one week ago, afraid that a civil war were to break out. She had been hearing something about an illegitimate daughter."

"Did she mention anything about Azula?"

Having said that, she looked up from the floor like suddenly something was emerging from her memories, and snapped her fingers as she recalled it. "Yes, princess Azula, she broke free from prison."

"So, do you have certain ties with her?"

"I'll be honest I used to work for her, that was until she got insane with her own power... "

"Did she ever mention anything about a plan?"

"Only the plan her father had designed during the Hundred-year war about the complete destruction of the Earth Kingdom. We can assume she has certain plans in mind for the Water Warrior to continue her plan, however in order to do that she'll have to gain trust over her people again. Furthermore, she'll need the full cooperation of an entire new army, meaning she must have been acting stealthy these days, probably on the black market." The way how Yammie's mother considered the entire situation fascinated Kenshin. Clearly she was a smart woman that knew Azula from the inside and out, and her assumption only seemed reasonable. "The best way to gain information about Azula's lair and army would be thieves, negotiators, merchants, assassins, etcetera etcetera. Now Azula's a woman that's capable of adapting to any kind of life style or situation, so disguising and hiding should be no big deal to her. She probably wants to stay close enough to the Fire Nation in order to regain her emperor, but still innocent enough to show her face in broad daylight without someone recognizing her. Meaning you'd have to search for the outer towns and villages around the Fire Palace, in particularly colonies."

"That sounds... Logic actually." He was actually astonished by her investigating skills, surprised she wasn't working for the local police or as guard, but on the other hand she was a weak woman spending most of her days in bed being sick. In any case, Kenshin would definitely offer her a job at the Fire Palace, and a tricky and fast girl as Yammie could be useful too. However, this was the real life, and unfortunately he couldn't take every poor family with him.

"I'm a sick woman but I can stand on my own feet," and she moved over to her daughter and caressed her hair, "and I have my daughter I can count on." She smiled at her mother and hugged her, which burned into Kenshin's eyes. While he was used to his wealthy life, he was now being faced with the through meaning of the word 'poverty' and 'dishonesty', but on top of that he got taken away to his own past where he was holding his own mother, smiling. And now he was sitting as a fully grown-up man, considering the situation of the world's prosperity. The only question was, would his mother have been proud?

Yammie escorted him outside and walked him back to the village's centre, since Kenshin had already forgotten how to get there. He felt bad for this girl and didn't really know what to say, as awkward as the situation might have seemed, and it looked like Yammie had swallowed her tongue as well. It was actually quite funny for she had had such a big mouth just an hour ago, but it seemed she was actually a quite shy girl. "If I may," he started and lowered his hands even deeper in his pockets, still not looking at her face though, "what exactly is the cause of your mother's disease." But he was already regretting what he had asked when he saw her face turning sad.

"About three years ago, my mother had fallen sick. My father only visits few times since my parents are divorced so it took half a year before we could take her to the doctor. We needed my father in order to pay you see. However, no one has ever discovered what had gotten into my mother that makes her so sick day in and day out. That's the reason why I began stealing."

"I see... I'm sorry." Kenshin felt a little uncomfortable and had no idea what to say. He had thought that after the great war the world was now free, but that didn't count to all people, not at all as he was watching other villagers roaming around the streets begging for money. What the hell was wrong with this world?

"Thanks for not having told my mother about how I wanted to rob you. She doesn't know, I don't want her to, if she ever were to die I want her to die peacefully without worrying about me."

"What makes you think your mother's going to die soon?"

"It's only a matter of time before her disease gets to her heart," and tears came up, "I don't know what's worse, being dead or waiting for it." As she was telling Kenshin her story she couldn't stop herself anymore from crying, having suppressed her tears for all those years in order to stay strong for her mother, not knowing what she will do after her mother's dead, afraid for the future, her father that left her behind, everything. So this was real life? He wished he had never seen it.

"Yammie," and she looked up from her sobbing eyes at a smiling Kenshin – first time he had actually smiled in quite a long time, "if the day comes you ever end up all alone, I'll do my very best to assure you future."

A cold wind blew their hair into the same direction as she was staring into his reassuring golden eyes. Only a few words it had taken to lift a burden from her shoulders, and she moved over to hold him and cry out her tears on his shirt, enjoying every last bit of warmth coming from his chest. Kenshin realized that this friendship he was creating was going to turn out bad, but he couldn't just leave her like this could he? The asswhole he had once been, taking advantage of girls etcetera, Meisha had punched it out of him, making him the person he had become today. Silently he whispered a thank you in the wind and thought about Meisha.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed and retreated.

"What for?"

"For your shirt."

"Forget it."

"Will I see you again soon?"

"I don't know," he answered and stared at the moon, "I have a few things to do first."

"Like retrieving your lost team member?"

"For example."

"I-" and she lost words when he looked back at her again, rubbed her own arm since she felt so uncomfortable and hesitated. Then all of a sudden she seized for his wet shirt and pulled him closer for a kiss, only for a second or three, and let go of him again, not even looking him in the eyes as he was sending her an astonished, surprised and red face. "I'm sorry," she whispered and tears were coming up again, "this isn't like me."

Feeling guilty about that kiss, he was standing over there with his mouth full with teeth and rubbed the back of his neck as usual whenever he feels uneasy. "I can't do this Yammie..."

"I know, I shouldn't have, just," and she closed her eyes and turned around, "you better leave."

Probably not turning around anymore, he took goodbye and walked away to go and search for his team mates in the village, when he stole another glare of her face that had stealthy stole a peek behind her shoulder. He turned around his face and cursed himself deep down inside.

When Yammie had kissed him, he had been thinking about Meisha all along.

* * *

**I update to you, live from Belgium in the middle of the examinations, with a sore throat and a runny nose. I reread your PMs and reviews today, which gave me the energy to finish this chapter. Thanks again for the encouragement, I love you all. Your writer, ShadowOfSelfDestruction **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Return of an Old Friend**

Houses burning, children crying, streets colouring red, chaos, disaster, panic, and what else do you need in a war? Aang was flying down a near Fire Colony in the Earth Kingdom and swallowed uneasily as he saw the sight. The Avatar had come too late to save this town from another downfall, their efforts of trying to prevent the news from spreading through the entire country had been in vain. He landed on a roof of the nearest house not yet having been burnt down and took a moment to capture the picture of a city which had fallen like an empire, forsaken to be shattered. The numbers of deads were uncountable, even dead children were staring blankly in all terror at Aang, almost like they were asking him: why Avatar Aang, why didn't you save us? Aang? He tightened his fists, trying to suppress the tears. How could people do something like this, killing innocent people, children, only to gain their way to a so-called revolution? This entire revolution idea wasn't even thought through, the only reason being distrust in their own Fire Lord! For what?! The most obnoxious 'reason' called adultery?! For not having told them about the disappearance of his daughter Meisha, only so panic wouldn't break out in the Fire Palace?! Were these two matters really valid reasons to exterminate an entire city?! No one had the right to do that!

Aang needed to hurry, he needed to catch up with his Warriors in order to save the world from another time of despair. As he activated his Avatar powers to connect with his apprentices, telling him to go north-east, he took his staff again and left behind the fallen city, looking back at it for one more time. _Where are you now Meisha, when we need you the most?_

He flew on, now having a clear idea of where he was heading, to go and search for his Warriors. If his Avatar powers were right and relying on his instinct – sometimes it was right indeed – they were telling them to keep heading east. A strong chakra level was concentrated near Ba Sing Se so he would travel around the entire wall to find that source. Only then, he would be able to find his pupils.

He flew on once more, flying above a burnt village somewhere at the south of the Earth Kingdom. He stopped there, seeking on possible survivors. It seemed most of them had escaped from the rebellions, it was just the slightest relieve to Aang. He searched for the mayor who was guiding his people to once more, the only safe city in the Earth Kingdom: Ba Sing Se.

"What's happened here?"

"Avatar Aang!," and he bowed, finding his family doing the same thing. He was doing a great effort helping his people to the city and made sure every single one of them would make it till there alive. "We were attacked by rebellions this morning. There was no real cause, they just started firing out of nowhere. I called upon my men to stop them, but they were too powerful... My wife over here,' and he placed his hand on her shoulder, "was able to take the villagers to the underground hideout, and so we escaped before our village was ruined."

"The rebellions, was there someone managing them?"

"To my greatest sorrow Avatar Aang, the only people having participated as Rebellions were the very own villagers of this town... Some of them even betrayed their own family and left behind children and wife."

So it had actually come this far people would betray their own family?

"Avatar Aang," the mayor spoke and stepped aside as someone was approaching, "allow me to introduce you to the man that had fought to our side and saved many lifes."

"Chief Arnook?" Aang couldn't believe his own eyes. What was the leader of the Northern Water Tribe doing in the Earth Kingdom, so far away from home?

"Avatar Aang," he smiled and shook him a hand, but that would soon change into an embrace as two old friends met once more.

"How come you are here?"

"Fire Lord Zuko sent me a letter about the current situation. I gathered my men at once to go into war. It was the least I could do for you after you having saved our home Aang," he smiled, referring to an incident many years ago during the hundred year war, a tale all too known by children from all over the world. "But please, the honour is all to my nephew. He was the one leading the troops." From behind Chief Arnook a young man emerged with long dark brown hair, tanned skin and dark blue eyes. Aang couldn't believe his own eyes.

* * *

Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

Outside this wrecked and dreadful isolated room with walls so thick to ensure she was not to escape, even through these walls the obnoxious screams of severed families were audible. Fire had slowly begun spreading through the village, in creaking burning sounds having demolished several houses, lives… Meisha was crawled together like a foetus, leaning against the wall for support, trying to hear the thousands of running and screaming people as they were running for their lives. Something was going on outside these walls in a world so unknown to her, something terrible. The witch had gone out for business, so she was all alone now. If fire were to come for her life as well, she would be unable to save herself from dead. Not that dead sounded so bad compared with what she was going through these days. Since the windows were being sealed by wooden boards, it was impossible to see what was going on outside, only the intense light of orange fire and explosions was emanated from behind the shelves.

Luck was on Meisha's side tonight, it was full moon, the bright planet increasing her powers as she felt the strong and pure inner source of her waterbending flow through her veins. A power so intense with the slightest sparkle of hope. Maybe, just maybe, she would be able to escape from this nightmare tonight.

An explosion found place next to their home and so she was being blasted towards the other side of the room. She lost conscience for a while after opening her eyes again. Everything was smoky and dusky with here and there little fires spreading through the debris. She was able to move her arm somehow, and pushed away the piles of dust and wood like she was digging herself from her own grave. What was to be seen next was out of the blue as soon as she was able to look up. She was staring at the black sky inhabited by stars. The explosion had demolished half of their home. Meisha found the courage again to stand up, tears dwelling down her cheeks. Finally, the gods had been fateful enough to set her free. Finally, she would run away from this place, and the power of the moon would help her with that tonight. After all, even though Azula had worn her out, sold her to men, she had trained her as well, and if she could be honest with herself, she was quite the Water Warrior now. It was time to leave now.

"Meisha."

She recognized that metal suited armour all too much. Dreadfully, she turned around to face the only man that had been nice to her during her stay here. However, having been nice or not, he wasn't going to stand between her and her path to freedom. Not anymore.

"I won't allow you to escape," he threatened and held ready to fight if necessary. Meisha had trained with him enough to know his abilities, he was strong, not a bender, but a great fighter specialized in the art of the sword. After all, Kuro had once studied at a military academy. "Those are Azula's orders."

"Azula." She spit out the word like it were some sort of disease. He had almost forgotten how her voice sounded like. "Do you honestly believe you're going to stop me because those are Azula's orders?"

He had been so determined at first, though doubt had reached his words. Sure he was a great fighter, but he knew Meisha's abilities as well. Plus it was full moon tonight, everything was to her advantage.

"What's going on outside?!"

As a lingering silence filled the gap between man and woman, the screams of thousands of innocents returned, explosions, they were fighting, yelling, crying, chaos, it sounded like Azula's work. Even if Meisha had left the Fire Palace, she was still a Warrior, daughter of the Avatar, guardian of world peace. If her father hadn't been able to stop all of this, than what could've possibly happened at the Fire Palace? "I know Azula has something to do with this! Spill it!"

"This is only the first step of Azula's plan," he answered withdrawn and seized for his sword, "and we need _you_ for the following steps!"

Kuro ran down to her, with the full intention of hurting her with his sword. However, her life was to be spared, so he could not give his all, afraid he would kill her. She dodged it like child's play, the power of the moon strengthening her powers, bending water from the sky that would drip down like rain. Having gathered every drop of it, she now possessed a suitable amount of water to fight. He stared dreadfully at her, now he sure was screwed.

With only one swift move with her hand, so ruthless and sudden, she froze him in a water barrier. The statue looked down on her as she passed by, not interested to fight till death. Looking up at the sky and smelling the strong sent of burning wood and a night sky, tears were being shed again. "Finally," she whispered, and bended a stream of water that would carry her to the ground in one of the abandoned allies.

Houses were still burning, people were still fleeing from their homes. Everywhere you could hear people cry. Hundreds had been killed. Meisha wandered through the disastrous streets, when she noticed a dead soldier on the ground. Her hands turned around the dead body, only making her startle when the dead body's face was staring back at her with eyes and mouth wide open. The man was only about 20 years old, so young and already having fallen in battle. Her fingers closed the eyelids and she continued her search. The cause of his dead appeared to be a kitchen knife.

"Why would a kitchen knife be used in a war…" she asked herself. It didn't make any sense… Unless, it were the villagers themselves who had decided to revolt against the law.

Someone was following her.

Faint footsteps across the corner of the streets were dashing like a horse, his shoes clacking on the street's concrete. Estimated from the sound it was probably a man, common weight and height, in a hurry as it seemed. She withdrew from the corpse and stood up, calling out for the man, but there was nothing but a cold silence, so she moved from her spot and slowly but surely gained closeness. Already his bouncing heart could be measured through the bricks of the house he was hiding behind, like she wouldn't notice him if he were to hide himself behind a house. His breathing quickened as he heard her footsteps right next to his ear, fully prepared to die any moment. He should've known following her was a bad idea.

"Who are you." And just like that, in the blink of an eye he was facing the girl he had seen fighting a few minutes ago. She was rather young for being such an experienced Warrior, not to mention short and emaciated for her age. While normally girls of her age had already aged and grown into a young woman, she still had the body of a girl. But her eyes betrayed something different, like she had seen more than enough of this world to already be prepared to die. "I asked you something!"

"I – I, don't kill me, I beg you!" The young student was trembling on his feet as he was staring with crooked eyes at the hand she was holding in front of his nose, ready to attack any moment. He didn't seem the most confident guy, not very strong either. Clearly a mother's child having been spoiled as far as his life goes. Sweat was pouring down his forehead when he looked through his glasses and looked Meisha back in the eyes. Sweet blue eyes and a nice pale skin. He had taken her for a waterbender after having seen her fight before, but now he was beginning to doubt that. After all, what waterbender had a skin as pale as that?

"You're not even worth killing," she spit right back in his face and withdrew, he sighing deeply once realizing his throat hadn't been sliced in two by a waterwhip. "What are you doing here, shouldn't you be with your parents or something?" Not even bothering to apply a conversation, she turned right and continued her research. In any case, she still needed a hideout or something, and some money to buy food. Well, there were plenty of corpses to rob, oh well, one couldn't hurt. "I – I don't know where my parents are," he muttered and followed her restlessly, slightly repelled as he watched how she started searching a dead man's pockets. Why couldn't he just leave her alone already? "You, you're – you're a waterbender right?"

"Yes, I am."

"I – no, if I'm cor – correct, a Water Warrior, right?"

Within seconds he was finding himself pushed against a wall again. "How do you know this?!"

"I –" Having troubles to breath since she was choking him, he wrapped his hands around her arm and she loosened her seize. "I saw it by your movements. Warriors have a very specific an traditional fighting technique, different from any other bender. Even the Avatar doesn't bend with these techniques."

"How do you know all of that." She didn't let go of him though. There was something suspicious about this guy.

"I've been studying the secret techniques for about five years now," he coughed when she retreated her arm. "I'm a student at Ba Sing Se University."

"What's your name?"

"I am Uriou Wasashi, son of Lord Roku Wasashi, head of the family chemistry company, and Lady Hina Wasashi."

"That's a mouth full," she grinned and continued her walk down the village. Together they escaped from the fallen town into the woods, turning around and watching the smokescreen slowly coming to an end as day was nearly rising. But Meisha didn't have any time to look back. Having seen all the deaths, knowing this was Azula's doing, someone had to stop her. She was still, runaway or not, a member of the Organization of the Four Warriors, one of the Avatar's many right hands. And if her father wouldn't be able to stop Azula, she would. And if Azula were to conquer the Fire Nation again and declare another war, thousands of lives would be destroyed, not to mention uncle Zuko's… She really needed to stop calling him uncle.

"Wait, where are you going!"

"I'm going to retrieve what is rightfully ours," she answered and walked away, but of course he just had to follow her.

"You can't leave me! Please, I have nowhere to go!"

"Are you prepared to die?"

"…What…?" Silence locked away his mouth behind a zipper. Die, but, why?

"If you want to come with me, I have no guarantee you'll survive." Even at this situation, she managed to keep her eyes so calm and restrained.

"… I –"

"Well? What's it gonna be? Living as a refugee in the biggest city of the Earth Kingdom, Ba Sing Se, or going on a life-threatening adventure with a stranger you just met? You could always start a teahouse though, I've been told good tea is very rare in Ba Sing Se."

He hesitated for a while, figured that, as much as he loved studying and being smart and all that shit, he had grown quite tired of being the schoolnerd around here. Maybe there was more up to life than gathering knowledge so much your head was about to explode. Maybe he should start learning to take care of himself and learn a thing or two from a waterbender. After all, he was an earthbender, but bending nor fighting had ever appealed to him. Maybe it was time to follow the path of his destiny, and maybe this girl was the one who would guide him?

"Well?" she yelled and waited for him to come. Of course he would come, what else was there for him to do?

He stumbled behind her with his tidy clothes, afraid to reap something and lifted his glasses to see where he was running towards. It almost made her smile a little, his clumsiness. "You're going to travel with those clothes on?"

"Well, erm," and he turned red. Kimono's were common clothing in the Earth Kingdom, this was an Earth Colony after all! "Well, what you're wearing isn't any better!"

"Is that so? I guess you're, right…" He looked up from behind his glasses as she slowly responded and looked back at her own torn apart clothes. Well, a supposed to be white dress that actually looked more like brown, revealing the utmost skin wasn't that decent either. Perhaps a change of clothes wouldn't be that bad first. Not to forget, Azula had never really gotten the time to take this dress for a bath.

"I know a near village where they sell cheap clothes and food," he proposed and lifted his glasses once more. "I don't have a map, but the stars can help us guiding our way."

"You seem like a smart kid… I could use someone like you," she smiled only a little as he tripled over his own feet again and turning all red when she laughed with it. It was a smile she hadn't performed for a very long time.

* * *

"Kenshin!"

Amaya rushed to her other teammate and embraced him, fully prepared to kick his butt any moment for not having met them at the right place at the right time. Nobu was looking dreadfully to the hugging pair from a distance, cautiously biting his under lip to try and suppress his jealousness. But who was he to complain, after all Amaya had to deal with situations such as these plenty of times.

"Where the hell were you, we were worried about you!" She had to fight to stop the tears from shedding. The sun had fallen a long time ago, they had already lost one member of their team, Amaya wasn't prepared to lose another one too. "Kenshin?"

"I've gathered some information."

–

"What do you mean we should go back to the Fire Palace?"

"It's just like I said, Azula wants to stay close to the Fire Nation and Palace to conquer it, so we have to go back to the Fire Palace and start looking in local villages, out of town. Do not forget Azula is a tricky woman, we've all heard the stories about the retrieval of Ba Sing Se."

"I thought we had come here to search for Meisha," Nobu spilled as he was leaning careless against the door. Obviously, he was pissed off about something. "But I guess she's not that important to you anymore."

"What do you mean." Kenshin sharpened his eyes. Already this incautious suspicion between them was escalating into something bigger as they exchanged faces. What the hell was wrong with Nobu? This wasn't his usual self, normally he's so briskly and careless. "Meisha means more to me than you know, but right now the safety of the world is depending on –"

"That's what you always rattle about, isn't it?! Always putting our duty first, always thinking about your honour!"

"Nobu…"

"No Amaya I've had it with him! You're just the typical overconfident firebender, obsessed with his own proud and duty!"

"Hey what the hell is your prob –"

"My problem, Kenshin, is you! You act like you're the boss of our team but don't forget you're the youngest one of this team! I still am the eldest one and the most experienced one! Don't forget Avatar Aang has chosen me to act as team leader here! Besides, you're the firebender of this team, and it wouldn't surprise me if you, just like Meisha, would abandon us and leave us behind like shit!"

Lingering, awkward, silence.

Nobu was overexaggerating, but something was gnawing at the end of Kenshin's stomach as he was trying to suppress his anger. As much as he hated to admit it, he was god damn right. Maybe for once he should abandon his own proud and put their teammate first. And honestly, after having spent all of this time at the Fire Palace, he still wasn't truly convinced of who he was. Kenshin had spent days thinking he was the best at everything, girls swooning around his feet day by day. He was the next Fire Warrior, the chosen one, and therefore had devoured his own uncle with these powers. What had happened that everything had turned out so wrong for him?

Abruptly he stood up and smashed with the door to go and take a breath outside. Slowly but surely, Nobu started realizing what he had just said, but when he looked at Amaya it was already too late. She had left him behind as well, and had gone after Kenshin. He dropped himself against the door he had been leaning against, sinking to the ground and shed only the slightest tear. Now he had lost her for good, right?

"Kenshin…?" Amaya was little afraid to come near Kenshin when he had an outraged temper. She had seen him in plenty of situations, unstable emotional conditions, he wasn't that difficult to handle really, when you had a big mouth and a loving heart. That's the reason why Meisha was able to tame him. She sat down next to him and stared back at the upcoming sun. Really, they hadn't even slept, better not overdo it today. "I think Nobu's just tired…"

"Well maybe he would've been better off if he hadn't drank so much the other night."

"Maybe…" she smiled a little as she recalled the incident. "But Nobu's still Nobu, and Nobu likes parties, drinking, eating, and working out. That's what makes him our friend, right?"

"So now you call him a friend?" She looked away when he accused her. So maybe she called him a friend now, what was she supposed to call him? Her boyfriend? Well, she had done that before they had left for six months, so why not call him like that now? What was it that was bothering Amaya so much, and what was it that was bothering Nobu so much?

"Amaya… If I may ask, what is Nobu to you?"

"I-" but she didn't know what to response. Little did she know either Nobu was eavesdropping from behind the pillar on the porch. "I don't know what he is to me…" Despiration was sinking at the bottom of his heart when he caught those words of his lover. And that while he had thought of her so highly.

"I mean, I love Nobu, more than a friend, and sure he can act tough and like a jerk, but… I've seen a side of him no one has ever seen, and to be honest, I really like that side…" So she did like him? "But lately, I just don't know what to think of him… Ever since we were parted by the White Lotus, I feel more distanced to him than I ever was before."

It stung like hell, Nobu left because it hurt too much. Kenshin understood her more than anything. After all they were still young, and so still searching for themselves. Who knew how much Meisha had changed in the past few months.

"I know how you feel Kenshin," and she sobbed away a little tear, feeling the urge to act strong, "I know the ambiguous conflict going on in your heart, and I know you love Meisha because she has set you free a long time ago. I really do, I just wish you'd more talk about it. We are your friends, and we are here for you, and we won't let anyone down before we have helped that person, because we are a team. That's why we are all determined to bring Meisha back home. And I have the confidence to assure you we will."

Her words were reassuring and comforting, but at the same time not what Kenshin wanted to hear. At this very moment, having been pushed to the limits of his anger several times today, he would enjoy the silence and loneliness for a while, settling his mind, and in the meantime Amaya en Nobu would be granted the chance to talk, because that's what they needed right now. Amaya understood the silent thought however, and so she retrieved to go and try to catch some sleep. It could very well be Nobu was waiting for her in the bedroom, but that was a talk they needed to get over with. She knew very well Nobu had probably been listening. Nobu was still Nobu.

So Kenshin sat alone for a little while longer, thinking back on every memory he had shared with Meisha and how she somehow reminded him of his mother. She had the same comforting smile whatsoever. He remembered how he had been watching her waterbending for the first time in only her underwear. He had pretended not to be watching, but he had been watching alright. She looked splendid in Fire Nation outfits, if she wasn't spilling wine of course. They shared their intimate moments from time to time… Ping was a great bother, the same goes for Jianguo. Their first adventure on the beach, with a tigershark… Or was it a seelion shark? Well Lord Shunshi wasn't even worth mentioning, though their essay had been really tough. He had to admit, they had shared quite interesting adventures, going to the circus, learning how to colourbend, the Blue Spirit and Red Dragon. She could be really nice sometimes, stealthy worried about him though she never wanted to admit it. They sure had a complicated relationship…

So he though back at her smiling face, the one that had kept him going, the one that had changed him into the man he was today and vowed he'd bring her back, even if it would cost him his life.

"Kenshin."

The firebender turned around his head after having heard an adult voice calling his name. Behind him were Nobu, Amaya, crying, and in the middle the Avatar. Moreover, when Aang shifted right a bit, he revealed that one person he despised the most: long dark brown hair, tanned skin and deep blue eyes, in other words, Lord Jianguo.

* * *

**I absolutely loved writing Meisha's part. So I'm trying to make you guys realize, just a bit, that Meisha has changed having spent her days with Azula, that she's not anymore the little girl with the big mouth like she used to be. I hope I succeeded at that -.-". **

**But frankly, I'm really proud of this chapter ^^ I also enjoyed writing this part. Say hallo to new character Uriou Wasashi, more stuff about his past coming up! Unlike Yammie, Uriou will have a bigger importance to the story, so if you don't like him, you'll have to deal with him anyways! **

**Btw, still no clue whether the Warriors have their powers or not, aight?! :D**

**Please do not add as favourite or follow without review, ShadowOfSD **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Getting to know someone**

"So, what's your name?"

"My name," Meisha responded blankly and continued pitching in her stew, flavoured to the lickings of a common Earth citizen, under seasoned for the common firebender. "Is none of your concern."

It was clear Meisha hadn't invited Uriou to come along with her to make friends. She separated her private life from what she called her 'work', and the waterbender was as good as a stranger to the young student. Actually, Uriou's first priority was to gain Meisha's trust by getting to know each other. No, he was not hitting on her if that's what you think. Being the son of a businessman requires a certain responsibility and it requires a noble woman. And here was the contradiction: she was a noble woman. If the books had been telling the truth, the Water Warrior had been chosen a long time ago by the spirits, the Warrior having been blessed with an amazing healing power so incredible that saying she's almost able to resurrect the deaths is not entirely over exaggerated. Now, according to the data books, the 345 985th Water Warrior was the first one born as the daughter of the Avatar, which is, quite impossible, but also an appealing matter for Uriou to investigate. He's been investigating this case for over quite a month without any result. That, and other interesting occurs. But this Water Warrior, he thought to himself as he was watching it in full admiration, she's truly some piece of natural phenomenon. So, to try and gain her trust, he started talking about his discoveries.

"You looks quite young alright. According to my calculations you should be about seventeen by now, however, you look fourteen. How come? Is it because of your Warrior powers? Is it true that Warriors last a longer life than most other benders and nonbenders?"

Annoyed by the student, she glared over to him in all boredom while stuffing her mouth with rice. The skinny girl sure had an appetite. It didn't look like she was going to respond his question.

"I'm sorry I – I just wanted to come up with a conversation, I – I don't really have any experience talking with, girls, and –"

"Then don't."

"Okay."

Seriously, no matter how hard he tried, despite the fact he was very shy and all that, this guy couldn't stop talking for a second.

"So, who taught you the traditional art of fighting? Few people have mastered the Warrior technique. It's a very refined one, a lot more difficult to learn than normal waterbending. Does that mean you know how to colourbend too? Did you know that, combining the Water and Fire Warrior's power into colourbending, it can create a flame so intense it freezes every vibe of your body? Once the enemy's been frozen, the flame of the Fire Warrior will melt it so that the enemy's been completely devoured."

"You don't say," she answered sarcastically. These earthbenders seriously had no idea how to make a good plate of food.

"Yeah, awesome right? I've been investigating the unique Warrior Powers for as long as I can remember, and yet there are still so many unsolved puzzles. The puzzle about the Water Warrior for example," he pointed at her, making her look up from her plate, "I mean, for generations the powers of Warriors have been passed down on common benders, and for the first time it's been passed down to the Avatar's descendan, which is quite impossible if you investigate the cells and genes. Scientifically, it's just impossible, right? So I started searching for answers, but the only answer I have is that there is a probable cycle within the Warriors, that once in a 295 714 years, the powers are being passed on to the Avatar's descendant, meaning you are probably one of the strongest waterbenders in the last 295 714 years! Isn't that awesome?! It's the only solution, right?!

"I'm an extramarital child."

"I know I know, it all makes sense now that – Wait, what?"

"You heard me."

Years of investigation, all, for, nothing. Was he going to cry now? He only sat there in his chair, staring in front of him, too overwhelmed to talk all of a sudden. Well, at least he shut up.

"I'm an extramarital child," she continued once having finished her plate. At first she hated how he talked so much, but having been secluded from social life for so long, it was nice to talk to someone again once in a while. And It was relieving to finally tell the truth to someone. "I've been raised as the Avatar's daughter, but he's not my father. Is this solution fair enough for you?"

Being the biggest nerd in Ba Sing Se university, number one student, Uriou felt really, really stupid all of a sudden. Not once in all these years of investigation, has the idea of another father occurred to his head. Was he even worth calling a scientist?

"You're kidding me... From all the answers you could give me..."

"I'm sorry but, that's how it is," she shrugged, noticed Uriou wasn't about to touch his plate of food anymore, seized for his plate and started consuming his plate as well. Of course he was shocked, he knew very well why rebellions were attacking: because of the disappearance of the Water Warrior. Little did he know she was an extramarital child. And what honour it was to be the one having found her back. Now the question was: should he help her with whatever she was planning on doing, or should he hand her in? It was either freedom or the duty of a loyal citizen.

"Hey, foureyes, you there?" she waved till he woke up from his thoughts. Maybe freedom didn't sound that bad after all. "We don't have all day, I want to leave immediately to head towards the Fire Nation."

"We're going to the Fire Nation?!" He looked up all startled once she took her leaves and pulled him along. He had never been to the Fire Nation, actually, his father detested firebenders, something to do with bad business with General Zhao. "But I – I, what makes you want to –"

"My reasons are none of your business."

"But I've heard there have been some issues in the Fire Nation, and I really don't think that's –"

"If you want to travel with me you're going to do exactly as I say!"

"But, wait!"

"What?!"

"What are you planning on doing once we get in the Fire Nation?!"

She thought about that for a while. I don't know, helping her family, bringing peace, that's what Warriors do right? But, now that she thought of it, she couldn't simply drop in and say hye after having run away for over seven months. Who was she to take down Azula's entire army on her own, not even sure the others were there as well? Furthermore, was she even prepared to face her former teammates after being separated for such a long time? To face Kenshin again... Maybe going back wasn't that much of a splendid idea. Iriou was right, she hated to admit it, but he was right. Gathering further information was the only possible thing they could do now.

"Sit down, let's consider the situation together, I can help."

Well, Iriou wasn't a great warrior or bender or something, but he still was a nerd, and nerds are smart. Who knows, maybe he was this amazing strategist when it comes down to battle. So Meisha sat down, bothered and annoyed for sure, but she obeyed.

"Let's start with what we know," he said, trying to calm her down. She nodded and thought. "Well, obviously Azula has something to do with this. The evidence was clear, it are the citizens themselves rebelling against the law. Something must've spread through the entire country, but we don't know what that is."

"Or do we?" Iriou asked. He knew it alright, and he knew Meisha knew it as well. The thing is, he was afraid Meisha still hadn't accepted it. She kept her mouth shut.

"The White Lotus can act so recklessly if you ask me," he continued, lifting his glasses, "they take immediate actions when it comes down to their precious Warriors, but finding themselves in the middle of the war, they just stand at the side and do nothing." He continued murmuring: "It hasn't even been confirmed Warriors can lose their powers."

Meisha would wake up immediately. "What did you just say?!"

"Well, you know, they say Warriors can lose their powers if they don't marry someone from the same element, but it has never been confirmed. I mean, it's only one of the few cases I've been investigating for so long, without any results..."

"How do you know all this?!" she yelled and grabbed her new teammate by his shirt, pulling him closer. Someone was shitting his pants. "My former professor, the best," he choked, "professor Zei of Ba Sing Se. He died about seventeen years ago after having been buried together with a secret Library."

Pushing Iriou off again, making him end up with his face on the floor and quite a few people watching them in the pub, Meisha moved forward ready to leave. "Get up, we're going to find that library."

"But that library is said to have been sunk into a sea of sand back to the centre of the planet –"

"I don't care!" she turned around and narrowed her eyes, "we're going to find that library, no matter what."

* * *

"YOU!"

Kenshin wouldn't even care anymore why Aang was here, his eyes were fixated on Jianguo, hiding himself behind the avatar like a baby! In all rush, Kenshin ran up to him, yelling like a true Warrior when he was about to enter the battlefield. Having bend a flame in his right hand, he was ready to cast it any moment, however, Aang stopped him. He had seized for his wrist and held it steady to settle his mind. They did not have time for this, nevertheless Aang didn't want a fight. But the stubborn Kenshin as we all know him, refused to give in though.

"What's all this Aang?! What is that loser doing here?! I told you to leave didn't I! You fucking basta –" That's when it hit him. He's the only one who knows about what happened with Jianguo and Meisha. However, Jianguo himself wasn't aware of that. He truly believed that Meisha's father, the Avatar, knew about what had happened. But then why would he happen to take him with him on his way to his Warriors?

"You can let go Master," Kenshin implied, having regained his coolness and offering him his apologies by bowing his head. "Forgive me."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Kenshin."

There was no way he would ever apologize to that jerk. Not, in a billion years. The waterbender peeked from behind Aang's back, deterred by the firebender who was nearly 5 years younger than him. It's not like he wanted an apologize, and it's not like he had forgotten about what had happened afterwards. Picking fights with a guy like him was a bad idea.

"It's okay." Everyone looked up when Jianguo spoke, a lot more confident than a minute ago. He and Kenshin exchanged faces savaged and distrusting. "I don't need an apologize. It's okay."

"Apologizing to you didn't even cross my mind for –"

"That's enough Kenshin, we have no time for this."

Aang was abrupt and more hastened than usual, leaving the Warriors questioned as they didn't know what was going on. And what was it with Amaya and Nobu? They looked devastated, moreover, Amaya had been crying, so far was obvious. What in the world was going on.

Aang turned around, when Kenshin stopped him. "Aang," he spoke reasonable, having forgotten about Jianguo, "what's going on."

As Aang turned around, four pairs of eyes were all looking at him, waiting to hear the answer. Actually, he wanted to tell them on the way back, but since things weren't going to plan in the first place, and since it didn't look like they were coming with him only if he would explain, maybe it was for the best. "Something happened at the Fire Palace."

"What do you mean?" Amaya asked carefully, eyes still red from the sobbing. Her sisters.

"People are turning against the Fire Lord. But worse," Aang continued, all eyes fixated on him, "they're turning against the law. The fights started at the Fire Palace, but it seems to have been spread all over the country and even the Earth Kingdom."

"What do you mean, fights?"

"Rebellions. Azula's followers started demolishing cities and buildings. Several lives have been lost." Amaya gasped as Aang continued. "I encountered Jianguo on my way here, having saved refugees from an Earth Village. We have to return home and prepare for war. Your mission has been dismissed."

They were all ready to leave, heading forward to return to the Fire Nation, when Amaya noticed Kenshin wasn't following. He looked paralyzed, tears running down his cheeks, all trembling and clenching his fists. When she called out his name, he didn't answer but only continued shaking. What was wrong?

"Re-rebellions?" Kenshin stuttered from behind his tears. Memories were rising to his thoughts. Rebellions rebellions, the ones who killed Ichiro, the ones who killed his nephew! He had been so young back then, but he would remember every false move they had set that day. And the memory of watching his nephew die was burned on his retina for eternity. What the rebellions wanted, were Warriors, to help them start a new war perhaps, if only thinking logical? Then why would they have already made their first – Meisha.

"Aang!" Kenshin screamed out, his Master spinning around. "I know where Meisha is!"

"Kenshin what are you –" Amaya said.

"She's with them! She's with the Rebellions! Don't you get it?! They want power right?! How you think they'll obtain it?!"

At first, his words seemed so utterly drivelling. However, having thought things over, it was most likely possible.

"How did you find out?" Nobu asked stealthy.

"My family was attacked once by Rebellions. If it weren't for my nephew I wouldn't be here today. They weren't in the need of power by slaughtering people and demolishing houses. It was me they had been coming after, a Warrior. They had planned this all along!"

Kenshin was right, and it was indeed a valuable clue. If they had Meisha, and if they were somehow capable of using her Warrior powers, combining that with Azula, everything was lost. This information needed to go to the Fire Lord immediately. But there were other things troubling Aang, even bigger ones. Hearing that his daughter was being abused was terrible, and if they didn't hurry and retrieve her right away, it could become even worse. No, maybe it was too soon to confirm anything. They first needed more information to conclude anything. They first needed to return to the Fire Nation.

"What are we going to do Aang?" Amaya asked afraid. She didn't want to admit it but, she feared this upcoming war more than anything. Her sisters were out there, they were at the Northern Water Tribe of course, Avatar Aang had told her so, but still.

"We're going back to the Fire Nation and start looking for Meisha at once. If Meisha's they key to their victory, she's the key to our resolve as well. Kenshin, where will we start looking? I trust you."

"Colonies," he answered determined and sharpened his eyes. The tears had already left. A new hope of retrieving Meisha had overpowered, and he was ready to take down the enemy. He would, no matter what, bring her home. "Near the Palace."

"Then we'll be leaving," Aang smiled and seized for a whistle in his pocket. Appa would appear from behind the house. He sure had missed that big flying bison.

When everyone had taken their place on the giant bison, Amaya and Kenshin being the only ones left with their feet on the ground, she seized for his hand and the firebender turned around looking her straight in the eyes. She smiled steadily. "We're going to find her Kenshin, I promise."

They shared a smile as he embraced her, holding each other close. Amaya was a true friend to Kenshin, the first one he had been getting along with not to mention. If it weren't for her, he would've never find his place in their team.

Nobu was watching them, his heart slowly ripping off.

* * *

"Listen, erm, Mulan, I really think it's a bad idea. How are we going to find a hidden library in a sand of sea?! We won't be able to see it and –"

"You're an earthbender."

"But I never –"

"Then use your ability and bend alright!"

Iriou and Meisha had headed for the desert and had settled in a nearby village. It was late and getting dark, Iriou was tired, Meisha could've moved on for at least another 2 hours. But nothing was more true, travelling with a worn-out companion was only going to slow them down, if he would have his rest now they could start their search in the desert during midnight when it was cool. It was also clear that, even if Iriou was an earthbender, he wasn't exactly the sportive type rather the nerd keeping his eyes on his books and hoping knowledge could beat muscles. That was true for some cases, but definitely not all of them. So time had come for Meisha to start teaching Iriou how to bend earth. Not that she was an earthbender, but she did know a few things about it since her fath – Aang was an earthbender. She was only teaching him the basics, but already those moves were too hard for Iriou to understand. He rose his arm abruptly in the air, yet nothing happened.

"What part of lifting the stone do you not understand?!"

"I don't know okay, I try I try! But it won't, listen!"

Slapping her own forehead in a very Sokka-way, she dropped herself in bed and thought steadily. Iriou felt hopeless and like a burden to her. Maybe he should've just stayed home hoping he would encounter someone and flee to Ba Sing Se.

"It's not about telling the element what to do it's about guiding it." Her headache was increasing with every minute. Uncle Iroh's unintelligible wisdom was of any use after all. "Earth is a very strong and abrupt element, and therefore difficult to tame. So if you're not able to tame it, then understand it."

He looked up at Meisha laying down on her bed, surprised by her gentle words. In some ways, she was a real fascinating girl. "You talk about bending with so much passion... Say Mulan," and he shifted a way next to her, also laying down like they were watching stars though they had rented a room, "if you wouldn't have been a waterbender, what kind of bender would you have been?"

"I don't know," she whispered confused, "never really thought about it. Fire maybe?"

"Why fire?"

"Unlike other elements, fire's untameable. The slightest insecurity will make you devastate your environment. It's an element that makes you confident and accurate, yet it's also wild and vividing."

"Sounds reasonable," he smiled.

They shared an instant moment of peaceful silent before getting back to training. One of the things Meisha had grown accustomed to was training, non –stop training, and a lack of rest and sleep. With all consequences, she was as good as restless. Lying down was no option for her, not to mention making fun. People sure changed a lot after only half a year. But it was the best moment for Iriou to ask that burning question he was dying to know. Why did she run away?

"Say Mulan," he asked after having attempted another bending form, without any results of course. "Why did you run away?"

She stopped bending and stared dreadfully at the floor. He felt having touched the wrong chord. "You don't have to, answer."

She didn't feel like answering either. Without saying anything, she walked away to catch some fresh air outside. Why did she run away? I don't know maybe because of my father, because of my father who hit me, again! Because of my mother who had been lying to me my entire life! Those stupid White Lotus members who pulled away the only person she felt close to... It hurt, so badly, that she wanted to scream it out and hope the pain would decrease. But she knew better. She had hoped to run away from her destiny, but instead she had walked right into Azula's trap. No one could possibly imagine what Meisha had gone through those past months. Abuse, torture, living with the constant burden on your shoulder: I could've stayed, I could've stayed. She had been scared, scared that her powers would've been misused to take over the world. Then what would've happened, how sorry would she have felt if that would've happened. She was no chosen one, a Warrior, she was failure who had run away from her duty. That's what she was, and she hated herself.

"You know, before I became this terrible bookworm." Iriou appeared from behind her back, taking a seat next to her. It was noticeable how he was so shy in the beginning, yet now he was... Different. "My mother used to take me to bending performances. I loved watching earthbenders,"

"One day, there was this new member, a young eathbender, very shy, no confidence, small, fragile, I guess you can picture for yourself. And guess what, she fell. She fell from a 50 feet high pile of stones."

"What are you going to Iriou..."

"The thing is, she was a brilliant bender, because I was familiar with her, and I knew she was talented. But there was this one little thing she lacked and that all benders are supposed to have."

"What was it?"

"Self esteem."

It was obvious Iriou was somewhat lecturing her. Worst thing: he was right. A bender won't be able to bend his element according to the proper techniques without self esteem. Don't respect yourself, you doubt your abilities, the leash holding your element will crumble to pieces, and you'll fail. However, she was already able to bend her own element, he wasn't, so why was he saying this?

"The thing is," he continued, "I have no self esteem. I shit my pants, I'm afraid of girls, I don't have any friends, I feel like the only thing I'm good at and with are books, so I hide myself behind a pile of books in the hope of bullies not noticing me. But I've had it with hiding and I've had it with being scared. I want to become stronger and accept myself for who I am. If you would start accepting yourself too, you would become an even greater Water Warrior, maybe the best ever."

It was one of the first few times in 6 months Meisha felt a little smile crawling a way to her lips. She had forgotten how nice people can be sometimes, and that being suspicious wasn't always necessary. Iriou was a nice young man, and they could save this world together starting with themselves. Hope filled Meisha's heart once again.

"Fine," she smirked and got up, offering him a hand at which he stared obscurely. "You want to get stronger, I'll make you stronger. You want to be acknowledged, I'll make people remember you. You don't want to be afraid of girls anymore," and at that he turned red and swallowed his own tongue, "than start with me. We're going to train till you drop dead, and we won't stop till you've moved that rock, got it?!"

They both smiled at each other. Iriou had never really thought about it, actually he had neglected the thought, but he was worried about his family. There was only the slightest possibility they were still alive. His family was probably dead, or they had fled to Ba Sing Se. He sure hoped they were alright. But instead of searching for them, he felt like Meisha needed his help now. Maybe it was silly thinking he was the chosen one to help the Water Warrior on her quest to world peace, or maybe it was brave and admiring. For once in his life he felt like he was doing something right, and when their eyes met, he was sure of it.

"Alright Sifu Mulan, start the training!" But before Iriou even realized it, a rock twice as big as him was coming right at him with a speed so fast it would actually kill him. He was paralyzed, like his feet had been stitched to the ground, the rock reflecting in his glasses. There was no time to think, no time to run away, he had to stop it, he had to freaking stop this rock before –"

Time had stopped, his eyes slowly turned left, and there it was, the stone, right next to him, on the ground, like having been defeated and surrendering at this very moment. From behind the rock, he looked up and saw Meisha in the distance with a smirk on her face and waving so innocent, with still water curling behind her back. Had he been the one who stopped this rock? Had he, somehow, though he didn't know how, just bended earth? He had...

"Nice work foureyes," she smiled and gained distance, "you're an earthbender."

"I am?" he asked in all disbelief and stared at his own hands. "I, am... I am. I am! I am I am I am!" Dancing around like a prancing pony, he kept repeating those same two words.

"Hey, don't get too excited, you still have a long way to go before you become a master."

"I know but I'm an eartbender! I'm an earthbender! And Earthbender!" and he lifted Meisha in the air, finding herself in the utmost uncomfortable situation. Too. Much. Love.

"Iriou. Put, me, down. You're, choking me."

"Oh, sorry."

Iriou wasn't quite the largest guy, nor was he very muscled or anything, yet Meisha had lost weight, and feeling your bones getting broken doesn't feel quite nice. But by his grip it was clear he was suited to be an earthbender. All they needed was a pile of hard work and never-ending training, after all an earthbender is of a certain value once taking off to the desert. She remembered how Toph was able to sense through her earthbending, allowing her to 'see' any obstacle, tunnel or person. Hopefully, one day Iriou would also become an effective Master. It was nice seeing how this one little victory could alter his entire enthusiasm.

"Remember foureyes, we'd train till you drop dead. Don't think I'm letting you get away with that only because you mastered the first basic move."

"I won't Sifu Mulan!"

Seriously, this guy actually managed to make her smile.

* * *

**Please do not add as favourite or follow without review, thank you very much! ShadowOfSD**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Library of Lies**

"Kuro."

The man with metal leg emerged from behind the curtain, with the usual merchandise: the black cloak, black mask and a metal chest armour. Whenever Azula called for him, he was only a step away from her. She was his princess, far more than his goddess or superior. Azula looked rather vicious tonight, half of the moon illuminating her pale skin. She was still mad at her dog for having let Meisha escape, not counting in the moon had been to the Warrior's advantage, not counting in the building had been blown up. It was Kuro's fault and that was how it was supposed to be, after all Azula needed someone to blame.

"You called, princess," and he bowed, eyes on the ground.

"I leave Meisha in your hands. She managed to escape, I want you to track her down and kill her if necessary. If we don't get her, no one will. Especially not that fire-brat."

"But my lady –" he wanted to speak up. All their work would've been for nothing? And killing a Warrior would outbalance the entire equilibrium in the world. Of course a new Water Warrior would reincarnate, but still, the consequences would be terrible. A Warrior first needs to obtain its powers, only then a next Warrior will reincarnate from its ashes if it were to be killed. And Meisha still hadn't obtained them.

"Don't silence me, Kuro! Or shall we try it your way again like you did many years ago?!" He held his breath at once. That had been a long time ago, and he had been naive. "Allies have told me the Avatar and his puppies are on their way back to the Fire Nation to restore peace and happiness and that sort of crap. I was thinking about taking those puppies down one by one. What do you think? You were familiar once with the Bai Sen family."

"I know nothing about the Fire Warrior." Yes, he had been familiar once with the Bai Sen family. That had been a long time ago. Things had changed, people had changed. Fights had been fought and losses had been processed. The Fire Warrior had been so young back then. People change just like the world. Warrior Kenshin had become stronger, had stopped being a mother's baby and was no longer the foolish little brat from before. Taking them down one by one seemed a good idea, but it was also reckless. Why not begin their plans without eliminating them first, in the end time would deal with them anyways. Or was there more behind regaining her country? An obscure something called vengeance? "If I may, princess Azula, taking them down one by one is risky. If we start a war, eventually it will deal with them as well. For now I think we should let the three other Warriors and the Avatar be, and focus on retrieving Meisha, if not kill her."

She considered that while enjoying her cherries. Cherries were her favourite kind of fruit, because they were red. "Perhaps you're right."

He sighed away the relieve and was dismissed, his mission having been explained fair enough. Now there was still this one question lingering inside of his head: what will he do, if taking back Meisha alive is impossible?

* * *

The flight back on Appa's back seemed longer than ever before. There was a cold breeze shedding as they crossed the sea, an ominous one. The sun hadn't shown its face for days, like it was recovering from a depression, and birds were flying the other direction, like they were trying to flee the Fire Nation. Everyone sat nauseous together, sensing the same pressuring calamity grasping over the nation. Amaya had been inconsolable, worried about her sister, denied Nobu's comfort and felt like overpowering this grasping sorrow on her own. And to Kenshin's greatest sorrow, while all the rest of them were worried about their families, he didn't think about his for a moment. He couldn't care less how his obnoxious aunt and father were doing, and they were probably thinking about him the same way. Everything was faltering to pieces. The world was faltering to pieces. All hope was abandoned.

After a few days the three Warriors, the Avatar and the heir to the Northern Water Tribe saw land, but even so, still too far away to notice the damage. The firebenders among them – Aang and Kenshin – could already smell the wood that had turned into coal. It surprised Kenshin Amaya, an airbender as she was, hadn't noticed yet. Going ashore was the most terrible plan of all plans, when they saw the damage, everyone kept their thoughts and grieved from the inside as words weren't necessary. Some of them knew this picture for far too long.

"Where are we going?" Kenshin finally asked as Aang was moving on to the centre of the city. It appeared they were heading for Fire Palace.

"I have to retrieve some valuable papers from the palace for Fire Lord Zuko. Then we'll be investigating for any clues or hints."

"Seems legit," Nobu spouted. And that while he was the eldest one of the team. The 'leader' as he had referred to it. "What clues would we search for? We already have – less or more – an idea where to go looking for Meisha and we already know what's the idea behind this 'revolution'."

"That's true Nobu, but –" Aang stopped, facing four curious faces looking at him. "I don't know, okay. I don't know..." He was tired.

* * *

And just like the flight on Appa, Meisha and Uriou were still wandering around in the desert, searching for an ancient library that was said to have been swallowed to the centre of the mechanism. And with an inexperienced hopeless brat like Uriou on your back constantly nagging for water, the reason to be fed up with sand was even greater. She might be a waterbender, she couldn't enlarge her amount of water or something. Every time they saw a cloud she'd extract the water from it, but the amount was really pour and as good as worthless. Until Uriou took a hold at a certain spot. Meisha turned around, finding the earthbender staring dreadfully at the spot, which was nothing more than a common spot of sand. No landslide, no tower, nothing.

"What is it idiot, you've been staring in the sand for hours."

"It's just," and he kneeled down to grasp for the sand, being blown away by the wind as he held it in his hands. "This sand looks so, different."

Well, he was a nerd after all. He'd probably know a thing or two about geography too.

"Well then, are you just going to stand there?"

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You bend, idiot," and she hit the back of his head hoping to get some sense into him. Any bender has the instinct to rely on his skills, right? "Feel the earth, sense it. Sense the pressure underneath it."

The earthbender closed his eyes, concentrated and made extended use of his sixth sense. He meditated, and after about five minutes his eyes shot open, looking at Meisha who was drawing an angel in the sand. She supported herself on her elbows, sand blowing out of her short hair. He didn't know why, but for a moment there, he imagined how she would look like with long hair.

"Found something?" she asked oriented as he suddenly realized they were in the desert, searching for a library. "There's a strong sort of... cube hidden underneath the sand, thought it's miles and miles deep. I doubt experienced earthbenders could dig it up."

"How about waterbenders?" she smiled as she took a typical Warrior position that Uriou had seen way too often in his books. That position, was she seriously planning on using that technique?

"Mulan! Don't! What if someone sees you! They'll know right away who we are!"

"We're in the middle of a wasteland, who would see us? Besides, it's about time I start using this technique."

With arms crossed and feet together, she breathed in and out, and repeated that same thing for 7 times, Uriou watching dreadfully as she was about to try this technique for the very first time. The chance that it wouldn't work was 9 out of 10, and 1 out of 10 that it would end in blood. All Uriou could do was watch. The amount of chakra she was summoning was so intense that his view became blurry and his breathing unsteady, like someone was drawing oxygen from the sky. Yet at the same time the sky felt moistened and heavy, like rain was going to fall down any moment. He watched how the tops of her fingers connected with each other, to improve the flow of chakra. When the Avatar gets in the Avatar state, it is said he gets surrounded by all four elements, and use them at the same time. For a Warrior, that's as good as impossible of course, but the impact of a strike is a ten times stronger and bending the element become child's play. For a Water Warrior, her element being controlled by the moon spirit, it is said that the moon spirit itself inhabitants the Warrior's body for a certain matter of time, until the state gets exhausted.

Rain started pouring down from a cloudless sky, and like that wasn't enough, a bubble of water sheltered them, turning bigger and bigger. She was collecting the water, slowly summoning more chakra, by now probably opening the last gate. Her eyes did not emanate any light yet, but soon it would. However, when Meisha entered the seventh gate, she stopped. She was not ready to suppress her powers and was scared to hurt her companion. At gate seven she stopped, collected al her chakra, breathed in and –

With eyes wide open, she yelled as the rain gathered together in one big wave of water smashing into the sand and digging deeper and deeper. For a moment there, she did not know what she was doing, but by now she had fully deserved her title of master. If Master Pakku would've seen this, he would've been proud. The water digged so deep that the earth started shaking and Uriou couldn't stand on his feet anymore. He could only stare at Meisha in full admiration, nearly laughing as he saw her amazing powers striking a scar in the earth. So this was what a Warrior was able to do. Books had told him about it, and his professor had, but watching it live, he felt like he was alive for the very first time. Meisha had so much force, so much willpower to find that library. That look in her eyes was fantastic. Hitting the very beginning of the library, the water turned back with a speed and power so intense it could devour rocks. It pumped upwards, back to the surface, and fell back like soft drops of rain. Nearly succumbing under the amazing powers, Meisha fell to her knees in the sand, out of breath and dizzy. She had done it. She had mastered her Warrior Powers. She had found that library. Can you see me Kenshin? I did it...

"Mulan! Mulan!" The first thing she saw again were Uriou's innocent brown eyes glaring at her from behind his glasses, tears dripping down on her face as he saw everything was alright. "Don't ever – I was so worried!" he sobbed and held her closer it actually hurt. But it wouldn't mind her, not at all.

"You get attached to people too fast Uriou," she smiled and answered his embrace, "you barely know me."

* * *

"Okay we split up. Nobu and Amaya, you will come with me to the Fire Palace. Kenshin and Jianguo, I want you two to locate every colony close to the Fire Palace and locate them on the map. We'll be searching for Meisha immediately after we've retrieved the documents.

From all the people, Nubo, Amaya, Aang, _Appa_, he picked _that guy_. Had it been on purpose, had it been a coincidence, who knows? At any rate, the two arch enemies had been teamed up. He had thought that Jianguo had changed, more rationally, but as they were working on the plan, sitting in the ashes of a burnt down house with a map in their hands, it became soon clear he had not.

"Our current position is here, so if we go east –"

"Drop it, drop it hothead. Everyone knows firebender suck with maps. Let me handle this," and he ripped the map from Kenshin's hands only to hold it upside down. He looked at it from a few inches, considered a few things, spouting, and returned the map to Kenshin. "These are Fire Nation maps. I do not understand, fire nation maps."

"Well what did you expect, these are Fire Nation grounds," Kenshin mocked back and flipped it over. Determined to do this job alone, after all he had been living in the Fire Nation for as long as he can remember, in fact, he had never left it up till this year, Jianguo peaked from behind his shoulder as the Warrior was localizing the nearest colonies. In a total, there were three different colonies settled around the Fire Palace. Two Earth Colonies, and one from the Northern Water Tribe. The closest was one of the Earth Colonies, a poor village surviving with fishing, export in fine leather and in textile. Kenshin knew that because he had been there once, and his father's wallet had been stolen which is, when you look back at it now, quite funny actually.

"How long has it been?" Jianguo seemed settled somehow, talking about a sensitive topic like that all of a sudden. He knew, just like many others, what kind of bond he shared with Meisha, and now that those ties were at their most fragile, it was painful to talk about it. Kenshin still hadn't forgiven him. After what he had done to Meisha, he never would. And now he showed up like some lousy hero, having run late because of his cowardness. They did not need him, he was useless, a show-off, but when it came down to fighting as good as useless.

"About seven months." Why he responded was unknown, but somehow Jianguo felt genuine in a certain way. Besides, he had never talked about it to anyone.

"I would've never considered Meisha the 'type' to run away," he said while playing with his pocketknife. They were both men, bad at talking, naturally, they both felt uncomfortable.

"I guess she just... Panicked," he shrugged.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO

"I'll go ahead. Be careful."

"You're telling me to be careful?" she smiled teasingly while Uriou turned red behind his glasses. After some recovery Meisha decided to move on if they wanted to end this fresh war on time, and honestly you don't break in a forgotten spiritual library every day of the week. They had tied down a rope that would lead them to the library hidden deeply in the desert, because Uriou's bending was still poor and Meisha was too tired. It would probably take them a while, but eventually she'd regain her powers again and they'd be able to escape flawlessly. Now the first thing to do was get in that library and hope that everything would still be intact instead of stuffed with sand. Their hands hurt as they glide down, hands tight around the rope causing one hand to slowly start bleeding at a time. Cursing was all they could do. They would have to hang on if they wanted to enter that library alive. But what bothered Meisha most was Uriou's cautious behaviour towards her, lecturing her like a child. Be careful of this, be careful of that. I'll go first. She wasn't a child anymore. Or, was she?

"I think I can see something..."

Carefully, they narrowed eyes trying to see what that thing was drawing their attention, when out of nowhere a faint black shadow crossed their path and made them lose grip over the rope. As fast as the shadow had emerged, it flew away again leaving behind gostish haunts like a mad house. With raging speed Uriou ended up with his back on the floor almost knocking him unconscious when a girl was falling out of the air collapsing right on top of him. It mostly caught her fall so Meisha was as good as unharmed, Uriou however would have a sore pain in the back for the rest of the journey. He kept lying there, moaning and writhed together, when she got up to admire the beautiful library. It was as good as unharmed from the inside. Each and every book was still at its rightful place, a breathtaking number of scrolls, documents, drawings, pictures and other useful information. Her father had told her about this adventure many times, but never ever had she believed it to be so amazing. Taken away by the astonishing architecture of the library, she did not notice the black shadow from before had reappeared behind her back, slowly gaining distance like it was hunting a pray. Uriou who was still lying on the floor with still a screaming headache, lifted his glasses and slowly became aware of the ghost. Suddenly, he realized what was happening, and he soon got up with panic written all over his face. "Mulan!" he screamed, but Meisha wouldn't notice. It almost seemed like she was under some sort of spell. Could it be that this was some sort of airbending technique only known by Warriors? Being a nerd wasn't that much of a disadvantage.

He ran up to the phantom, trying to hit it with a stick, knowing that this effort was in vain. He didn't aim for the ghost, a ghost is merely tangible so any straight attack was as good as useless. He swung it around, roaring like it made him more confident when taking on a demon, so that the shadow moved away and hid. Uriou ran up to Meisha who was still walking forward, getting dangerously close to the edge of one of the many bridges connecting the floors of the library. Only a few more steps and she'd definitely fall off. So he ran as fast as he could, jumped for those last few seconds and caught her right on time, ending up on top of her on the floor. At last she awoke from the spell, eying the guy who was – at least, that's what it looked like – assaulting her, bending a strong waterwhip in his face so that he flew off. Her breaths were unsteady and furious and she almost stared Uriou to death. Little did she know he had just saved her from death though. "What do you think you're doing, idiot!'

"Idiot? I just saved your life!"

"I can very well take care of myself, thank you," she spouted and brushed off the dust while getting up. Of course she was angry, every girl is angry when a guy saves her, du-uh.

"Listen," and he tried to ignore her childish behaviour which was ignoring him, "something tells me we shouldn't be here. They didn't bury this library for nothing."

"The story tells that a wise spirit named Wan Shi Tong buried this library because of the abuse of his knowledge. At least that's what my fath –" she held her breath for a while. "The Avatar told me. I don't intent to use his wisdom for war or death. My purpose of gaining this information is of much more value and doesn't have anything to do with hate or grief. I will find my answer no matter what."

Uriou had always considered Meisha a confident strong girl – for as long as they knew each other – but her answer betrayed so much more. She was searching for an answer that the White Lotus – apparently – can't or doesn't want to give. But the real answer for Uriou was why. He didn't even know why he had decided to travel along with her. He had nothing in common with Meisha. They were no family, no friends, she was not safety, rather trouble, no peace, rather uproar. Yet somehow he trusted her and felt closer to her than he had ever felt to anyone. Maybe because Meisha was his first 'friend'. And maybe that's why he was so protective over her. Because Meisha was his only friend, and he would not, no matter what, lose that friend.

"Coming, foureyes?" she smiled and offered him a hand. For once, the nickname wouldn't mind him.

They started with an ancient map from the library, each and every floor drawn on paper and it's subjects and artefacts summarized. Meisha was actually surprised when they discovered there was an entire floor dedicated to Warriors. Moreover there were a total of three floor dedicated to the Avatar. Taking the stairs, they ended up on one of the lower floors build with gold rather than actual stones. With her finger she traced down every subtitle from the Warriors. It went from bending techniques, each divided in the four elements, to traditional food intake. There were thousands of scrolls containing ancient Warrior bending techniques Meisha hadn't even heard of. There were unique healing scrolls to heal your spirit and exile demons from it. Even colourbending had earned its rightful bookshelf, with dozens of books, how it was discovered, developed, refined. A lot of Fire books were destroyed during the hundred year war, so little was found about Fire Warriors and their prior lives. Uriou held still at a bookshelf with databooks from all the previous Water Warriors. There were thousands of them, but he only seized for the last one. Meisha watched how he carefully read a book and decided to join him.

"Did you ever meet your previous life?"

"No, I haven't," she admitted. Normally, when having learned how to activate your Warrior Powers at such a high level, you were supposed to already have met your previous life. However, Meisha hadn't. She didn't know a clue about him or her.

"Did you know that male Water Warriors have never existed?"

"What? That's ridiculous."

"No really, it's true. My teacher had discovered it. After a lot of research, it appeared that a woman is always chosen by faith because of her healing abilities. Men don't have that ability, or rather, they don't apply it. For as long as we can remember, men have always fought at the front lines while women specialize in healing. Silly research, isn't it?"

"So what's her name?" Meisha asked stealthy and sneaked in the papers. A beautiful woman was drawn at the front, carrying the name Juan. Age of discovery: 10. Age of Warrior Power mastering: 15. She was definitely a genius. You wouldn't consider her one. She was a ginger with freckles, curly hair and a beautiful innocent smile enlightening her cold and pale skin. Uriou started reading about her life.

"On the twentieth of July, Lady Juan, daughter of Lord Shin and Lady Hana, was born. She was considered to be an unhealthy baby possessed by the devil because of her red hair. Her parents both died soon after her birth, the mother accused of witchcraft, burned alive, and the father hung while watching. She was taken in by Lady Shio from the Southern Water Tribe where she grew up and learned how to bend water. At the age of 10, she discovered the truth behind her family and wanted revenge on the people from the Northern Water Tribe who killed her parents. Once there, she reveals her powers as Water Warrior and unlocks her very first Warrior State at such a young age. The Northern Water Tribe considered her too dangerous and locked her away for five years to improve her powers and use her as a possible weapon for the ongoing war. 27 years of war have passed, and by the first attack of the Fire Nation, the Northern Water Tribe decided to use their weapon and so heroically conquered Fire. However, Fire Lord Azulon had become interested and planned another surprise attack on the Northern Water Tribe. Having sacrificed an entire army of soldiers, only three spies remained with a kidnapped Water Warrior. Juan was being locked away in the Fire Nation for 10 more years when she finally escaped after an invasion from Earth. Since then she has lived as a citizen in disguise at the Fire Nation. At the age of 27, she married a fire-nobleman named Quon and got four children. Names still unknown. She died in her sleep soon after her husband's death at the age of 89, December 21."

The two of them went silent as they were taking in the story. The woman had had a terrible life, and it was frightening knowing that her death had given birth to Meisha that day. All in all, the Warriors of today were not to complain at all. They were treated with respect and with the right directions. And even so, she had found the man she loved and had become a mother. Her prior life was certainly someone to look up to.

"Mulan," Uriou broke the silence carefully and tried drawing her attention. He hesitated before asking, but did it anyways. "What is it exactly you want to know? Why did we come to this library? I bet this isn't what you've been searching for."

Meisha swallowed uneasily. The entire trip, he had whined about searching that library, but he had never asked her why and had followed her. He had been such a loyal friend to her, yet still she refused telling him the truth. Maybe it was time. Maybe it was okay to trust people again.

"... I have to know if it's true Warriors lose their powers when they bound to one another."

"But, why?" Uriou did not know why, but he felt something uneasy swallowing down his throat.

"Friends..." she lied again. "I don't – let's just, continue."

"Okay," he responded without any problems and got up again. The information they had found was very useful indeed and it could help Meisha, but it was not what they had come for. They'd have to try another section if they wanted to find the answer. So they continued, till they came across a section called Order of the Four Warriors. After skipping several books about the history of the organization which had only been founded four generations ago, there were several shelves with the Warriors as team. It was really the basic explanation how most teams were arranged, which elements fought at each other's side best and traditional formations.

Then there was this psychological book: the burden of a title. Meisha flipped the cover, reading the back's summary when the author's name crossed her sight. In printed letters there stood JUAN and a picture of a redheaded old yet still beautiful woman. This was a book about the life of Water Warrior Juan, her previous life, and Meisha's hands shook as she was holding the book. Sure she had heard about her life so far, but reading it from the person itself, knowing that this woman is actually _you_, now that's thrilling. Uriou looked from behind her shoulder at the book and recognized the woman at once but decided not to mention it. Stealthy she put away the book in her backpack and moved on searching for more information. Her finger crossed another promising title called 'The Order of the Four Warriors, the Lotus' cloak'. A professor who had dedicated his entire life studying Warriors and the White Lotus had written an entire book about dos and don'ts, wrongs and rights. Every little piece of information about the White Lotus was written in this book, so they decided to quickly read the book and hope to embark on the little piece of information they needed. It was at chapter 11 that they thought to find the information that was acquired. Chapter 11: Depriving a Warrior's humanity. Uriou read the chapter once more with his warm reassuring voice.

"Over the past years, The White Lotus has selected itself as watchman over the Four Warriors to prevent yet another war. People now feel secure, knowing that a specialized but more importantly, an experienced organization is making sure to preserve world peace and harmony among each and every nation. Having once been a member of The White Lotus myself, I have attended many meetings and benefited many negotiations. It was our duty to connect the four nations with each other once more, just like it used to be, but healing scars is an utmost impossible thing to do. Fire Lord Zuko has proven that wrong though, he brings hope to his people and with his support and approval, I, a fire citizen myself, notice this peace and humanity throughout the country. However, immediately after the hundred year war, the White Lotus had changed as much as the world itself. Being occupied with beauty, truth and love was not in our dictionary anymore. Preserving world peace became our number one priority which has an obstinate side effect at the same time. With eyes focused on the future the White Lotus decided to join the Order of the Four Warriors, in the past being hold by the Avatar and only the Avatar himself, and started developing new and fresh techniques sole for Warriors. With new bending skills and an entire new generations of Warriors, our one and only goal was to teach Warriors and improve them to stand by the Avatar's side at hard times. But soon that objective turned into barbarity. With new Warriors getting older and older, the members of the White Lotus adapted ancient traditions and changed the age of Warrior education from 18 to 16. They considered a young girl or boy at age of sixteen already mature enough to dedicate its life to its faith. That was the first false move they made. From over the world, we got word and confirmation about the new Warriors, but we kept waiting for the Water Warrior. Eventually it appeared to be a young bender from the Southern Water Tribe. Not just some girl, the Avatar's daughter itself. An uproar had the upper hand at the White Lotus now that an impossible case such as this one appeared to be true. After exchanging a few words with the Avatar, it was confirmed. Knowing that, the White Lotus had never been more solid about the change of the age 18 to 16. After all, the Avatar's daughter should be a genius, or so they thought. As time flew by, new changes arrived. So was chosen that the Water Warrior should learn the art of bloodbending which had officially been baptized as illegal. I was furious about this, and decided to untie my bonds with the White Lotus. To prevent distractions and more problems, relationships among Warriors were forbidden. There had been rumours about losing powers once a Warrior offers his body to another Warrior, though that rumour had never been confirmed. To my believes, that's just a childish story to scare the future Warriors. When the youngest Warrior turned 12 and visited the Fire Nation like any other year –"

"Wait a minute."

Uriou stopped reading when Meisha's hand searched for his arm and supported on him. She felt like fainting and was short on oxygen, staring in front of her like she was dead. It had never been confirmed? It was just a lie? A story to scare us?! All made up by the White Lotus?! This couldn't possibly be happening. Course she was glad that it was a rumour but to think what could've been prevented if they had never come up with such a disgusting story! And what about her family and everyone else, did they know it was a lie? Were they just lying because they were told to? Or maybe they didn't know either? The White Lotus' number one priority had always been educating the Warriors to prevent war, but the only thing they were doing was preparing it for war. Light on her feet, Meisha was trembling all over and soon succumbed under the pressure that had been resting on her shoulders all along. Here was her answer, and she was sick and relieved at the same time. Uriou caught her right on time and placed her on the floor, checking if everything was okay and telling her to breath. With his hand on her forehead to make sure she wasn't having a fever, he continued reading and embarked on something interesting.

"Mulan, listen," he whispered so that she would look up. "When the youngest Warrior turned 12 and visited the Fire Nation like any other year to see the Fire Lord, the Fire Lord insisted on introducing his niece to me. I was still one of Fire Lord Zuko's most trusted advisors, and just like me he was not excited about the idea of introducing his niece who was the Water Warrior to the Warrior education at the age of 16. Being the youngest of the four, the girl called Meisha would be the only sixteen year old one to start her training so early. I met her that day for about five minutes, and when I got home tears dwelled in my eyes. She was a most vivid child with a genuine smile and I wondered to myself: where was the world going to if they wanted to teach a young girl how to fight. And then it got clear, the faith of a Warrior, the chosen one, is nothing but a burden of a title, doomed to give up your childhood and forced to become a fighting machine, a weapon."

Meisha's memory slowly returned from that of five years ago. There was a man, a very tall one, taller than Zuko, with a wry smile like he was in pain. He had had short black hair, a pale skin, dark eyes and he carried a lot of wisdom. She remembered how she was scared and hid behind uncle Zuko's clothes, but the man had told her not to be afraid and show herself to the world. There had been something in his eyes that she had never understood until now. He had felt sorry for her.

They both looked left when a shadow flashed before their eyes again. Suddenly the ground started shaking and the piercing sound of a crying bird echoed through the library. Uriou hid the book in his shirt and carried Meisha in his arms who felt still weak. The library was about to succumb, they needed to get out.

* * *

**Hello my dear readers, don't forget to review. This chapter took me a little longer, but I hope it'll please your expectations. Anyone who knows who Kuro is yet? Have a guess! Kind regards, ShadowOfSD**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Confusing Treachery **

A black shadow

The panting of a hero

To the left, to the right

Upside down then turn around

Dead. End.

I won't lose you.

* * *

The small colony smelled like rot fish and eggs, having endured the same rebellious fights as many other cities. The streets were bald and shallow like the people were afraid to speak up. Only sole whispers were allowed for the losses were still too tender to mention. The children however, they didn't realize what was hanging above their heads, another world war for example, they were naïve little punks that any adult should see as an example. If only they could pretend just like they can. Team Avatar stayed close walking down the streets of the in ashes covered village, some villagers looking rather suspicious than in grief. Aang was quickly reminded to those pirates they had met a long time ago. These people also had ties to the black market and were not to be trusted. But if they needed any information about Meisha, they'd find it here, in a village where they pay for women.

Kenshin and Jianguo shared hollow faces from time to time, challenging each other with their eyes, Amaya breaking them up more than once. She and Nobu seemed more distanced than ever before, leaving the firebender among them unknown about what was going on. He was still mad at Nobu in some sort of way, but the chance he was just tired or confused was to be considered too. Aang left the puppies alone, searching for any food at the market, and that had been a wrong choice. As soon as he turned his back, the boys were fighting again, despising the fact they were in this mess together.

"Stop it you two, seriously, don't you realize were in the middle of an upcoming war?" Amaya was right, it was a certain matter of respect. That, and she was so tired she could faint any moment. From the entire group, she seemed the most tired, having spent several sleepless nights thinking about her sisters. The dark circles around her eyes emphasize with the truth. She looked like an absolute zombie while she was normally a marvellous girl. When she wanted to turn around, she collided against a tall scary man, apologizing at once until the moment he seized for her wrists and bended forward. "Why good evening lady, gentlemen," he smiled nauseous and fixated his attention on the girl again. "How can I help you sweetheart?"

"By letting me go," she struggled and managed to get out of his grip.

"Now now children, let's behave. You shouldn't be on the streets at dusk. It's dangerous. Why don't you come to my place and drink some tea, it'll do you good."

"We don't want your filthy tea," Nobu spouted and pulled Amaya closer, his role as boyfriend taken seriously again. "If you really want to help us, you can start by leaving us alone."

Snarled, the man cursed and turned around, withdrawing to the lion's nest. Kenshin looked at Nobu, exchanging thoughts. They were both thinking the same: follow the man. "Jianguo, you stay here and protect Amaya. We're going after –"

"I'm going with you," Amaya protested, trying to ignore her tiredness. She was okay with Jianguo, but that didn't mean she liked him and wanted to stay behind like useless filth.

"You're staying here Amaya." It was uncommon for Nobu to get into fights so drastically. But he insisted Amaya stayed here. He glared at her, a lingering tension, and she agreed by dropping her eyes to the ground. Nobu and Kenshin followed the man into the dark alley.

The obscure man left behind a faint track of scent which was distinguishing from the burned down streets. For benders, it was easy to pursue thieves, not to mention Warriors. With Nobu's outstanding ability to sense vibrations throughout the earth, it was a piece of cake, something he had learned from the best of course. These guys did not need eyes, their feet would be their eyes and they would tell them which way to go. At a sudden point, the man held his ground and ferociously spun around, but while having expected someone, no one was following him. At least, that's what he thought. Because behind a house's façade, two benders were holding their breaths. Having checked the entire neighbourhood, he turned around again and moved on, got inside a house and locked the door behind him. Kenshin smirked as he remembered his last housebreaking with a nonchalant little waterbender, only this time the building was a ten times smaller and it was just a house, not one of Fire Nation's most important prisons. This would be dealt with easily.

The two benders appeared from behind their shelter and replenished each other's moves as they were moving toward the building. They felt each other like real team members, Nobu offering Kenshin help to get on the rooftop and then bending himself on top of it too. They worked swiftly and smoothly like ninjas, the eldest one holding Kenshin's feet who was dangling above a window trying to break in. With the tips of his fingers, he melted the iron work around the window and managed to break it open without too much noise. He got inside, followed by Nobu, ending up in one of the main bedrooms. It appeared to be some kind of hotel, though there wasn't any sign on the house's façade. Opening the door to a hall, several more doors, each numbered, ran the entire hall way. The last one was a black door numbered zero.

At the end of the hall, there was a wooden staircase guiding downstairs. Candles were causing shadows on the walls, so the boys stayed upstairs and listened cautiously as two men were exchanging words.

"- reply to the letter she wrote to – don't want anything to do with it."

" It appeared she was angry – late at night. The preparations were to be finished end this month."

"And what will she do then?! Try to conquer the Northern Tribe?! The woman is crazy!"

"Shhht. Keep your voice d – the metal man not interested – the girl is the key."

"The girl?"

"Yes…"

Nobu sensed how every muscle inside of Kenshin's body tensed. They were talking about a girl. Nothing about Meisha, but there was a girl, and a woman who wants to conquer North?

" – the key – have her, the boy will automatically – should join her side."

"What are you talking about?! It's nonsense I tell you!"

"That's enough," Kenshin whispered and he bended a fire blast towards the expensive chandelier, the glass decoration shattering into a thousand pieces, the perfect distraction. He yelled while firing himself on top of one of the men, apparently the same man from before, while Nobu held the other man into custody. He reached for oxygen as Kenshin's hand squeezed his throat harder and harder, facing him with a flame in his hands. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE KEY?!"

Normally, Kenshin's actions were considered an cautious ones. He would never let his emotions take over. That was before he met Meisha though. Now that her life was on the line, he was willing to put his on the line too. "WHO IS IT?! SPOUT IT OUT FAGGOT! OR DO I HAVE TO DO IT FOR YOU?!"

Nobu only watched as Kenshin's hatred was slowly becoming one with him. He could feel the spiritual pressure getting stronger and his chakra getting faint with every second. The ability to gain your Warrior powers pretty much took the same long journey as the Avatar's, opening your chakra points and so on. The last one was to let go of all the ties that bind you to earth. He would never master his powers if he continued like this.

Without any reason, he started hitting the man in the face, letting out all of the anger he was shouldering the last few months. Of course the guy didn't speak, he could barely breathe.

"Stop it, let go of him!" the other one shouted, his eyes filling with fear as Kenshin watched him dreadfully in the eyes. "I'll tell you everything I know. Just don't – you're killing him! Do you really want a murder on your conscience kid?!"

He already had.

But he was a firebender, able to lower the hottest flames dwelling inside of him, so he collected his thoughts and stared back at the shaking man underneath him, all beaten up holding his hands in front of his face. He wasn't even worth killing, Kenshin thought and he withdrew his arm, the man immediately releasing a nervous writhed laugh. Only hearing his laugh betrayed he was a man working with illegal stuff. But the black market was exactly the information they needed.

"Spill it," he cursed and let go of the man. He helplessly crawled himself up and ran to the wall like it would offer him protection. Obviously in too much of a shock his friend who seemed the smartest of the two started speaking. "The key, you said," he stated and rested his eyes, Nobu decreasing the grip over his wrists. He looked like they could trust him at a certain level. "Is the girl."

"The girl?" Nobu's words were chosen carefully and collected.

"The key is a girl," he confirmed again, now looking Kenshin in the eyes. "We do not know her name. I have only seen her once, beaten up, underfed."

"How did she look like?" With every step Kenshin was taking his muscles tensed.

"Short brown hair, strong blue eyes, one of them having turned blind. Probably Water Tribe, yet with an abnormal pale skin to be a waterbender."

Meisha. Every fibre of his bone was telling it: Meisha, that's Meisha. It had to be Meisha. Why was her hair short and one of her eyes blind?

"And why is she called the key? What is it you want with the girl? Who is behind all of this? Spill it old man!" Even Nobu became restless hearing the corresponding description of their friend.

"I don't know! She goes by the name Lady Sya and is always accompanied by a metal man."

"What does she want with the girl?!"

"We don't know I tell you! She mentioned something about conquering the world but that's impossible!"

"But why is she called the key?!"

"Because she's the key to the Fire Warrior!"

The Fire Warrior's eyes paralyzed at once staring blankly at the panting man in front of him. "She wants the Fire Warrior. That's why she has the Water Warrior."

So really, Meisha was only used as bait? It was him they were after all along? From the moment… From the moment his nephew gave up his life to protect him, from that moment on it had all been about him. He was the sole reason to Meisha's misery, everything was his fault, everything. From the very first moment he set foot in the Fire Palace, he had put everyone he loved in danger. Feeling weak-kneed, the burden being too heavy to bear, Kenshin succumbed under the pressure and fell like a defeated Warrior. All he ever wanted was to protect Meisha. He sucked at it.

* * *

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Almost falling out of bed, her eyes moved from corner to corner discovering where the hell she was. Last thing she remembered was an ancient library falling to pieces. But she was in a house, in a bedroom, and when her eyes wandered to the source of a warmth next to her, her eyes caught a beaten earth nerd having slept through the noise of her scream. The nightmare she had had was about one of the several men who had bought her to sleep with her. Still trembling, she suddenly felt like she needed comfort and laid down next to the earth bender who kept his eyes closed, following the rhythm of his respiration. He slept like a beautiful rose when he closed his brown eyes and removed his silly glasses. His steady breathes somehow calmed her down. He had saved her from that library and the spirit that dwelled within it. She did not know how or why, but she was alive thanks to him. How could she ever make it up to him now?

She held her breath when he moved over a little and took and sighed, but he continued sleeping. It was nice watching him sleep in some sort of way. She could only imagine how Kenshin enjoyed it when she was still fast asleep. This guy was a lot different from him however. He was insecure and too friendly sometimes, but that's what determined his personality and frankly, she started liking him. She wriggled herself in his arms and rested her head against his chest. She hated admitting she was scared, but for once it wouldn't bother her.

Slowly but surely, the earthbender woke up, still unaware a girl was sleeping in his arms, with a dry throat and aching muscles. They had survived the desert, but once realizing a girl was sleeping in his arms, he doubted he would survive this. His entire body tensed and that while his muscles were killing him, but this was his first experience with girls and he was freaking out. Soon enough though, the worried father took over again and he hugged her exaggeratingly back like they hadn't seen each other for months. The truth was, the only knew each other for a week.

"Thank you," she whispered, keeping the tears from shedding. "For everything."

"I should be the one thanking you," and he kept her at arm distance looking back at her eyes. His eyes stole a look at the blind one. "I finally feel alive."

"That's because you almost died, idiot," she joked and they both escaped a laughter that would melt the ice wall between them. In fact, it melted everything standing between them. The lies, the misunderstandings, everything disappeared like snow in the sun. His bare chest emanated a reassuring warmth that reminded her of a certain someone, though that thought was the least of her worries now. Slowly his comforting voice started talking again. He seemed so much more human without his glasses. "While you were sleeping I read the entire books we collected from the library."

"How long did I sleep then?"

"2 days."

"What did you discover?"

"Your real name." Slap. It felt like a slap in the face. How did he –

"The last book we took mentioned the Water Warrior's name. It's Meisha, right? Not Mulan. Meisha, she who is alive…" Her eyes flushed open. This was definitely not how she had planned it, and she'd completely understand if he were to abandon her now. Uriou read the panic in her eyes and smiled at her, leaving her confused. "I like your name, it suits you."

Astonished as she was, she fully complied when he stroke her cheek gently feeling her soft pale skin. Her skin felt as cold as it looked, leaving him wondering if it would've ever felt warm before she ran away. With her lips slightly separated, she was still with her mouth full of teeth unable to say anything to him. Ashamed she had lied to him, embarrassed he had to find out the truth in his books being the bookworm as he was. And so she also fully complied when he came closer and felt his breaths next to her nose, still staring back blankly at him. What she was thinking at that moment was not to understand. Maybe it was out of empathy, maybe it was her despair, but with every inch they were gaining, they both felt like this was the right thing and it would've happened anyways. Her small lips were practically begging for it, and although he was a shy guy, he gave into those feelings. His soft lips rested slowly against her, evolving into a kiss and the sudden need of feeling their bodies against each other. They both lost each other and gasped for air, but it felt so right and good they couldn't stop their bottled up feelings anymore. She released every single bit of frustration, anger, pain and grief in that kiss, and when they stopped they both stared each other lost in the eyes. No, she definitely didn't feel guilty, and yes, this felt how it should be. Actually, she felt like she wanted more, and she needed it now. Honestly, it was her despair taking it all over.

Her refined gasps turned him on of course, but it stayed with a kiss and a tight hug and that was how it was supposed to be. There were plenty of reasons not to take it any further: they did not know each other, it wasn't the time and they were both worn out. Meisha could add another reason to her list: Kenshin. Eventually, after hours of kissing, panting and cuddling they fell asleep in each other's arms, taped together, her nose slowly growing accustomed to his natural scent that relaxed every muscle in her body. She stayed awake a little longer while the earthbender had already fallen asleep, thinking. About a certain firebender that could make her feel the same way as Uriou now. About the moments they had shared, his smirk, their fights, their trainings and shared mornings. She should probably feel guilty about this. But then why didn't she?

* * *

Everything felt dreary when Kenshin woke up, his eyes slowly growing accustomed to the light in the room. He felt like he was sailing a ship and had slept for days which was funny enough the case. They were on a Fire Nation ship heading for the Northern Water Tribe with at the corner of the room Amaya playing Pai Sho with Jianguo. How long had he been asleep, considering Amaya and Jianguo didn't like each other at the begining of their journey? On the other hand, Amaya was nice to everyone, so really everyone liked her. So why wouldn't a pervy guy like Jianguo make friends with a young beautiful woman like Amaya?

With a headache still lingering and leaving behind a fatigue, the firebender tried getting up but fell back, already tired with the effort. Amaya noticed this and turned around, seeing how her friend struggled to get up. Her inner mother would take over again and she rushed over to Kenshin, placing her hands on his chest and forehead pushing him stealthy back. He was sweating all over his body and still having a fever. The inner mother in Amaya sighed as he wasn't improving. "You should rest more."

While common Kenshin would react to this, sick Kenshin fell asleep again like a rose, not really caring where the boat was heading to or why they were on a ship in the first place. He had forgotten most about what had happened at the Earth Colony. The two men were locked away and sailing this ship as well. Avatar Aang had collected most of the required information they needed from Nobu, and they had headed for North at once. To prevent the North from falling, to prevent Azula from taking over the world.

They had embarked on the house where Meisha had stayed for so long which was devastated. Meisha, being the obstinate girl as she is, she probably survived the attack flawlessly and was now hiding somewhere. These were only assumptions, but it was enough to feed the Warrior team with hope, and it was the only thing they had. Room was to be made for the upcoming war and so Meisha needed to wait – again. On the deck the men were preparing for a fight, distributing armour and weapon. Nobu too was preparing for it. They'd protect the Northern Water Tribe with the few proud people they had, all earthbenders who fought for their country. With the support of Chief Arnook there was no way they'd lose this fight. Jianguo could not join this fight, as much as he wanted to. The next chief would hide in the North Catacombs till the fight was over if something would happen to their current chief. Chief Arnook had already lost his daughter, he would not lose his nephew too.

When night fell upon the ship, Kenshin woke up again, feeling a lot better than earlier this day and was able to find his way to deck all alone. Nobu was sitting around a fire with other men running over the last details of the plan. He was the commanding officer of this elite, a task Avatar Aang had given him before he had left to arrive at the Northern Water Tribe earlier. It was strange seeing how Nobu could work so sophisticating like a real man and that while he usually acted like a child. So even the most optimistic men are tamed by war.

"You want some soup?"

Amaya escorted Kenshin to his seat around another fire which was keeping the soup warm. She was the only woman abroad and so left with the domestic tasks. Golden eyes wandered to the ground as the firebender felt beaten. It all came back, he had collapsed that day. He didn't want to know how long he had slept, it was probably too humiliating and embarrassing for him to hear. His father was right, he was a failure.

"Here you go," she smiled and offered him a bowl of soup, "the flavour is somewhat watery but there weren't a lot of vegetables on the ship."

"That's okay," he sighed, stirring his soup like it would tell him the future. They were avoiding eyes, both scared to mention the details about what was going on, what had happened. The atmosphere was cold and chilly and they felt further away from each other than ever before, and that while having spent half a year with each other.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better..."

Having tried to start a decent conversation, Amaya got up and went over to Nobu, handing him over a bowl of soup as well, sharing a genuine smile that told each other more than a thousand words. It was like the stab of a knife because now Kenshin realised he had lost Meisha, they would never share the same thing that Amaya and Nobu shared. Despite the fact they had fought, that he flirted with other girls, they had never stopped loving each other. Kenshin had never stopped loving Meisha of course, but how about Meisha responding to that love? Would she still – maybe she moved on. Maybe she was cheating on him right now. Or maybe she didn't consider it cheating because actually they weren't really in a relationship. Maybe she had considered her departure her goodbye and their breakup. Love, what a confusing, obscure thing.

"You look tired." Jianguo joined him around the fire offering him some bread which he greedily took since the soup tasted flatly. The bread didn't taste any better whatsoever. "We should arrive in a few hours now. My father is already there and my uncle will welcome us as honoured guests."

"We're heading for North?" that came out more pathetic than expected. Even Kenshin's words were weak, like he was an indefensible child having the flue. The firebender wrapped a fur around him expelling the cold.

"Yes, we're preparing for the invasion. It's most likely Azula will arrive soon. Maybe with Meisha, maybe not. If not, she probably managed to escape –"

"Or she's dead." The waterbender swallowed his tongue hearing this coming from Kenshin's lips. He was not the person to give up hope, but the way how his eyes stared into the distance, it was almost like he meant every single word.

"At any rate, you should probably get back to bed," and the combatant stood up unwilling to continue this pessimistic conversation. He might not like Kenshin, this wasn't like him at all. "It'll be a busy day tomorrow, we don't want you to get in the way."

"I can fight!"

The future chief took halt and looked back at the poor firebender wanting to defend his honour. A typical thing for a firebender to do. They were all the same, all about honour, loyalty, the chance of showing how worthy you are in combat. Of course it is important to be proud when you fight, proud of your country, to protect the people you love. But firebenders?! All they think about is honour, honour honour honour. He wasn't even able to get up properly.

"Look at yourself," he spouted, several soldiers turning their heads and following the conversation, "you think you can fight? You're not even able to hold your own bowl of soup!"

"I can fi –"

"You think we fight to prove ourselves?! You're still a child, yet you prove yourself to be an adult! You aren't ready for war. Your should fear it like we all do."

The entire crew held their breaths looking at a naive child gritting his teeth. "I'm not fighting for myself, I'm fighting for this country!"

"You're wrong. You feel humiliated after what happened at the colony. Now you want your honour back, you want to prove you are strong. The Kenshin I knew would never give up hope, he would fight for the woman he loves. But that never crossed your mind, did it?"

Their conversation had been held, Kenshin was defeated with words, and the young heir turned his back on him leaving him crushed behind. He felt like crying, but was too proud to admit it. When Amaya rushed over stroking his back, seeing how he was shaking – not because of the cold though – he pushed her abruptly away. "Leave me alone," he spouted, suddenly not needing the blanket anymore. Precautious he kept his eyes to the ground and walked away, ignoring the several eyes watching him disappear into the heart of the ship. Out of all the things he wanted to be alone, but Nobu thought otherwise. Minutes after the incident, Kenshin had withdrawn in his room but soon enough got disturbed by a knock on the door. Nobu was optimistically knocking a tune on the door, like the serious Nobu had never even existed. Although Kenshin said no, he led himself in anyways, followed by a tiptoeing airbender.

"Hey, don't bother. Everyone's just freaking out with this war coming up. Don't –"

"That's not the point, Nobu," and the firebender sighed fire like a dragon trying to suppress his anger. "He was right. He was god damn right."

"Kenshin..." Motherly Amaya took over again, sitting next to the lost child. Her smile was genuine and hopeful when she placed her hand on his and squeezed it gently. "It's okay to feel bad about what happened. But what happened, happened, and now it's time to put things right. You're still weak and incapable of fighting. Unless you accept that you'll never find satisfaction."

"Every step closer to her is a step further away from myself."

Her grey eyes searched for a facial expression explaining the prior mentioned words.

"I feel like I'm losing myself..."

"Maybe you'll find it back after finding her." The firebender looked up seeing Amaya's optimistic smile as usual. She was really good with words, and she was way too nice.

"I bet she's probably thinking about you right now!"

And he would turn his face again when Nobu said that. Honestly, he doubted she was thinking about him. It was exactly what bothered him so much lately. Was she thinking about him? Was she striving to get back home one day to see him? Maybe she had moved on. Maybe she had forgotten about him. Not seeing each other for 7 months takes its toll. People change, and so do they. Kenshin changed, he became a hopeless weakling succumbing under the grief and pressure. Having spent about 6 months locked away in a room with Azula changes people too. She was probably not what she used to be, and that was like loving an absent person.

Amaya grabbed her earthbender by the arm and snapped him away, leaving the firebender with his thoughts. He needed time to think and to restore. With his face covered in blankets like he was running away from the real world, he considered the possibilities. If he finds Meisha back, they'd be like total strangers, they wouldn't recognize each other anymore, she'd have to undergo years of mental improvement and could very well wear another name. One thing was for sure: if he finds Meisha back, they'd have to start all over again. But that was fine with him, he still smiled with her little winebending trick when he thought back to it.

"I miss you," he gasped, holding onto his pillow imaging it was her. The pillow wasn't half as warm as her body.

* * *

**Please do not add as favourite or follow without review, thank you! **

**So, you guys wanted some jealous love triangle shit. I give you jealous love triangle shit. Now enjoy. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The Daily Life**

"Uriou, hold on, geez!"

"You're losing your touch Meisha!" and before the waterbender even knew it, she was being carried like a princess to the prominent walls of Ba Sing Se. It was a promising and delightful day for a boat trip which had taken one night to get to the other side of the lake. It was either that or going right through the Serpent's Pass. With Uriou's important rank in society, his father being this widely known businessman, it was easy to provide tickets for the boat as well as keeping Meisha's identity hidden. As they were heading for one of the most populated cities of the entire world now, they could not take the risk of luring any enemies. After all, the walls of Ba Sing Se had fallen before by the hand of Azula, it was only a matter of time before she'd make them fall again.

An entire night spending on a boat had caused certain 'disadvantaged' that would slow the pair down. Meisha felt seasick and was lacking the health to travel onwards. They had headed for the Earth City in the hope of retrieving Uriou's family. Once in the big city, a guide would show them around and do whatever was possible to find his family. Now that the Dai Li had been extinguished and replaced by the Bai Baohu, a new foundation by the White Lotus to protect the heritage of the city, the city had improved a lot. The reason more not to run into any more trouble. Words about the Water Warrior had spread throughout the entire world, so it was merely a matter of time before the Bai Baohu would drop eaves about this.

So the number one priority was to safely find Uriou's family, without any complications. They needed to take the train to get through the other side of the wall, waiting in the station for the next train to arrive, and it was busier than ever before. Meisha had visited this town before, usually it was busy, but in a healthy way. Now everyone was hurrying around in all haste. As the ride to the centre of the city only took a couple of minutes, breathtaking as it was for some of them, a woman was waiting for them to guide them through the city. The Joo Dee's had been replaced as well, by _normal_ people with _normal_ behaviour.

"Hello and welcome to Ba Sing Se. I am Jeng, your hostess for today and I will be leading your throughout your journey," she bowed and seized for an official document. "According to your official stay in the city you are searching for the Wasashi family. It is my greatest honour to accompany you in your search."

Those very few words were exactly the words that reminded Meisha why she hated this city so much. Everything was studied by heart, there was no personal access to your customers and each and every person in this impregnable city was to be put in boxes ranked from lower to higher class. Even the guide's smile was to be studied by heart along with her gestures. The city had improved in humanity after the fall of Long Feng, but it was still all about 'cultural heritage' and hierarchy.

While other people would have to take gratitude with their feet, walking their way to their new home, Meisha and Uriou were provided a carriage that would take them to the higher restriction of the city. Meisha looked outside, seeing refugees on the move once again, running for a new war that was about to develop into something bigger soon. The most she wanted to get out of that carriage and help the hurt ones. It was the instinct of a Warrior saving mankind, and it was probably something she had learned from Aang. After all healing injures were her speciality, however she needed to hide her identity from these people. She was still to blame for the upcoming war.

"This is it."

Blue eyes snapped open when the woman told the driver to take halt. The carriage stopped in the middle of the road so that Meisha lost balance and fell to the floor. Uriou laughed and helped her up. Apparently she had fallen asleep during the ride that had taken half an hour. The last sunbeams hit the light of her cheep Fire Nation outfit, however, while they were expecting to finally reunite with the Wasashi family, they had arrived at a villa in the higher district.

"Where is my family?" the earthbender asked confused, looking back at Jeng who had stayed in the car, ready to leave. "It is getting dark. We'll be searching for your family tomorrow morning. You can stay here till we find your family, Lord Wasashi. Good night, Lord Uriou, Lady Mulan." And just like that, the human robot took her leaves. The benders looked awkward at each other, then at the house and then down the street. Every house had the same facade. Even the flowers were of the same species and planted at the same spots.

Inside the place wasn't as huge as the Fire Palace, naturally, but still a big house. It reminded her of the residence they had rented once a few years ago when they had visited to see the Earth King. With a wooden floor and its soft, cotton sofas, it felt familiar yet revolting at the same time. The waterbender dropped herself in the couch, sinking in the soft pillows ready to fall asleep any moment. Uriou smiled how she shot her eyes and covered them with a blanket. He investigated the kitchen, hoping there'd be anything left to eat since they hadn't eaten all day except for old bread this morning on the ship. Apparently they had already prepared ingredients in the kitchen, still to be cooked of course. So while Meisha was resting Uriou began cooking, already getting used to this daily life.

* * *

The North pole was, to put it rational, cold. No good place for a firebender to grow up, nor to spend his holiday. Yet the architecture and ingenuity surprised him in any possible way. The portal of the ship was lowered, presenting at the front of the district three young armoured Warriors. Yes, even Kenshin was wearing one, for he had begged so much he had finally gotten it his way. He wanted to fight for his honour, for his friends, for his country, and for her. Each and every man abroad wore Fire Nation's newest armour, made out of the finest and strongest steal. Nobu, the official leader of this swarm, was the first one to lower and touch the cold surface of the ice wasteland.

"Warrior Nobu," the leader of the Northern Water Tribe greeted. The young bender bowed. "Welcome to the Northern Water Tribe. It is an honour to welcome the three Warriors."

"Not as great as being here, Chief Arnook."

"Let us go to the meeting hall."

While walking to the main palace of the wonderful ice district, outside thousands of watermasters were training and securing the gates. Up till 16 years ago, waterbending was prohibited for women. Now there were plenty of them wearing armour and preparing to fight at the front. To realize it had been Meisha's mother, Master Katara, who had achieved this, was as amazing as the architecture of the hallway from the Chief's palace.

"How's my nephew been doing?"

"Good. He's a really good fighter and knows what a war requires," Nobu responded as they were walking inside. "He'd make a fine captain."

"Unfortunately he won't be fighting. I put my nephew's protection first. I can't afford losing another member of my family. That's why I wanted to talk to you."

"I have already established two guards who will protect your nephew."

"And why is it that I have nothing to say about this? You take choices without discussing it with me first. I have specifically asked your teammates to guard my nephew. Neglecting my request is ignorant and a sign of no respect."

Chief Arnook's hard words echoed through the ice cold chamber leaving a deadly silence. Nobu was in no position to ignore his superior's orders. After all he was still the child among the experienced ones.

"I have made that decision myself." Behind the blue curtains, the heir to the Northern Water Tribe emerged with his two guards beside him. Of course he was lying, Nobu had made the decision. But Chief Arnook didn't know that. "We need the Warriors at the front to fight for our country. It'd mean the end of our culture if they do not fight with us."

"Lord Jianguo, I appreciate your concern for your people, but your safety goes above all –"

"It does not uncle. I want my people to feel safe and secure, and that will not happen if I won't even provide them that security. Consider how selfish it will seem. How many lives could've been spared."

Chief Arnook sighed, his eyes wandering away from the sham. His most trusted councilman arrived as well, Master Pakku. Kenshin swallowed uneasily as the two masters' eyes met. For a moment there, time had run slow. He remembered those endless nights at the beach, training about colourbending. They still didn't like each other.

"My Lord." Master Pakku made sure he spoke silent enough for the brats not to hear. "I have taught one among them."

"Do tell me about him."

As the two old men were talking and nodding, the four puppies morosely waited. It was disturbing how everyone still considered them children. They treated them like children, but they had grown and they were masters now.

"Alright then," Chief Arnook decided, "it is as it has been decided. My nephew will be protected by his guards while the Warriors will battle at the front."

And so it had been said. It was time to prepare for a war now.

Underneath the palace was a hiding shell provided with the newest weapons and armours. This is where captains would be spending the rest of the night, including Nobu. Kenshin and Amaya both took their leaves, expected to leave the room. No one else was allowed to attend these meetings, not even them. As they were walking down the hallway, having a fantastic view over the entire landscape, Amaya would suddenly stop and lose herself in it. Outside, women were praying goodbye to their husbands, some of them with children, others too young to have children. It was a grief anyone could feel in this ice land, stabbing the heart of one of the last airbenders, thinking back at her sisters who were now waiting for her at the other side of the world. She could feel how Kenshin's emanating warmth was embracing her as he was standing next to her. He sure had grown. They were friends. Their entire team was made out of brothers and sisters. And now she had to leave Nobu behind, not knowing if she'd see him tomorrow. Not knowing if she'd ever see him again. And this was exactly how Kenshin had been feeling all along.

"It's okay." Amaya looked at her teammate leaning casually against the baluster of the balcony. He acted so reserved, so relaxed. "I know how you feel."

Her eyes turned to the view again, the night getting darker and darker. "What if there's... no tomorrow."

Kenshin thought about those words before answering. She had begun crying, wondering what impact her death would have on her sisters.

"There's always tomorrow," he eventually said and got up, leaving behind the airbender. "Even if someone dies, there's always tomorrow."

* * *

"Meisha! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming!" she yelled back. After having slept for only five minutes, she had already grown bored and wanted to investigate the house. Upstairs was a bath- and bedroom, a desk and stockroom. She ran off the stairs, danced a little pirouette while she was at it, bending water to a flower that looked a little pale, and already she smelled the deliciousness of Uriou's cooking skills. He was busy in the kitchen, fully caught in his cooking, not even realizing Meisha was watching him from the doorstep, amused by his passion for cooking.

"There's only one double bed," she smiled, leaning against the door's frame watching how he added a few more touches to his dish. Never had she ever imagined Uriou would know how to cook. It was probably one of his side hobbies beside reading, or maybe he had just read a lot about cooking.

"I'll take the couch." He placed the pan on the table, offering her a full spoon of 'original Wasashi rice'. "I know you like it spicy, so I, added some, well, it's not how a firebender would season it but," and he rubbed his hair nervously. He took place around the table as well, like an old couple spending their days together enjoying their retirement. Somehow it was nice, having dinner together in a place of their own. It almost felt like everything was normal again. There was no war awaiting them outside and there was no duty burned on your skin like an incurable scar.

"We could share it."

He almost choked in his rice when Meisha said this, staring outside the window with an insignificant face. Although he liked Meisha, obviously more than a friend, it was still weird for him to correspond with girls, not to mention sharing beds with them. But there was something in her eyes that betrayed a certain 'loss'. He didn't really know what to call it, but every time he watched her it almost looked like she was missing a part of herself. And now, that loss came forward stronger than ever before. There was something she was hiding, yet he didn't know what. He had so many questions lying at the tip of his tongue, afraid to ask them. He just had to –

"Why did you run away?"

Her reaction was the same as last time, her lips sewed together and eyes flustered open. Only this time he would hear the answer from her mouth. That thing in her eyes he took as a loss was being emphasised even more when tears dwelled in her eyes. All of a sudden, she seemed distressed and exhausted. She tried avoiding his eyes and leave, but he held her by her wrist, something that evoked way too painful memories.

"Sit down," he insisted. This was uncommon for Uriou to say. Usually he was too careful and shy. But what was she supposed to answer? The reason? Or rather the _reasons_. Mother, father, uncle, brother, sifu, Warrior Warrior Warrior. This was like a nightmare all over again. She looked back at Uriou who was still waiting for an answer, steadying her respiration. Even now, at a time like this, he'd still think about her convenience first rather than demanding the answer at once. If it was time she wanted she'd get it.

"It's... Complicated." At last she spilled the first beans. Not entirely what Uriou had been waiting for, but she had started talking again after a full ten minutes of silence. "I've read a lot of complicated books," he joked. She didn't laugh. "Start at the beginning."

"That's a long story," she laughed and wiped away the tears. "... It started with, a certain responsibility." The earthbender was all ears and listed patiently. "I was just like you, you know," and she smiled away the memories, "no one liked me. I had no friends. I ran away a lot when I was little."

"When my Warrior Powers were shown for the very first time, the people of my tribe only started neglecting me even more. Even my mother looked at me with the same eyes. But when we moved to the Fire Nation and I started my training, I grew up. I grew stronger, I made friends. But I also discovered dark sides of people I considered so perfect. I guess discovering who my real father was had something to do with it." She fought the tears as a brave Warrior, but it wouldn't help.

"But that wasn't the only thing, right?"

"There was a complication..."

"Does it have something to do with the reason why you wanted to find that library so desperately?"

"Yeah..." and she silenced again. Uriou could feel he was hitting a weak spot intended to be kept as immortal secret, like she wanted to die with it and bury it within her grave. He wasn't that stupid, he had his suspicions, stealthy hoping they were incorrect. "You fell in love with a Warrior, right?"

She avoided his every single attempt to look her in the eyes. That was enough to confirm his question. From all the things he had hoped to hear, he received the answer he wanted to hear the least. Tangled on his chair, he felt like vomiting all of a sudden. She loved someone else? Did she still love him?

"Do you still love him?!" he asked overreacted, not controlling his moves anymore. The most he wanted to kill that guy since it almost felt like she had cheated on him. But that wasn't true. She had never cheated on him. They had never been together in the first place. And this guy had stolen her heart first. But then why, why was it aching inside, dying to know if her love for him was everlasting? Maybe he was hoping for a second chance and heal her heart that had been broken.

The tension was to be cut with a knife, so thick and rough they couldn't possibly break it with words. Suddenly all the secrecy became clear. Why she wanted to discover the things she wanted to know, why she had gasped for her breath that moment once discovering it. He hated everything about her, she was fake and a liar and false promising. He paraded out of the kitchen, leaving Meisha behind who was still staring at the ground. Things could've been so easy if she had never told him the truth. Her entire life was a curse mark. One thing was for sure, they'd be sleeping separate tonight.

* * *

"Team 1 will be in charge of the gate. They'll have to keep the enemy out as long as they can. Now the second team will be guarding the main gate. If team 1 falls, you are not allowed to involve. Our main priority will then be securing the main gate. Team 3 comes with me. We will be attacking from the corners on the sea. I will need a lot of waterbenders to keep the boats from gaining distance. Team 4 is to drive away the shells, they will be fighting at the front towers preventing fire bombs from taking the first walls down. Team 5 consists out of firebenders, earthbenders and healers. This is the front team. Once team 1 and 2 have fallen, team 5 is in charge of protecting the village. Now, I want a small team to protect the dungeons to prevent the enemy from getting to the citizens. That would be Amaya and 3 other benders from each element. Four healers will stay inside with the citizens in case someone gets hurt. General Shun, you're in charge of team 1. Chief Arnook team 2. Team 3 will be me, team 4 Master Pakku and team 5 Jianguo. Amaya, you're in charge of your team."

Kenshin his eyes wandered to the waterbender. So he was fighting at the front at last, even as leader. The firebender raised his hand like they used to back in school. How innocent those days had rushed by, now longing for them more than ever. After all they were still kids, participating in a war. "Are you implying we cannot, under any circumstances, rush out to the other teams if they need help?"

"Under _any_ circumstances," Nobu emphasised explicitly with deterring eyes. Amaya wouldn't even recognize him anymore. But these were no times to doubt and care about relationships and their problems. Even Kenshin would forget about his for a moment. These problems would only distract during battle, and the battle would be as cold as ice to put it ironically. Having calculated it accurate over a hundred times with the little information they had gained, Azula's troops would be here at the crack of dawn. She played it smart thinking that waterbenders absorb the power from the moon. Now that the teams had been divided and morning was about to come, the teams split up, occupying their posts. All they could do for now was wait for their enemy to come, an everlasting fierce ache.

"You persuaded your uncle?" The firebender looked down at Jianguo, sitting casually at the front of the village's main door, holding a shield in his right hand and a spear in the other one, implying he was left-handed. He smirked hearing his rival joining him, both leaning against the enormous ice door, both packed in warm waterbending clothes. A firebender like Kenshin wasn't familiar with a cold like this. He hated the weather and doubted the cold would prompt his fighting skills.

"I have more up to my sleeve than you thought Lord Kenshin."

"What about your people?"

"Fighting along my men is how I protect my people."

So Jianguo was more faithful than one could've imagined. At first, Kenshin had though that Jianguo being a good captain was a sarcastic joke. Nobu made plenty of those, at least back in the normal days. But maybe Kenshin had been wrong about him. Maybe he would be a great captain one day, and a great Chief as well.

"Are you scared?" the waterbender asked and drank the remain of soup in his bowl.

"All this waiting makes me tense," he admitted and rested his head against the door. The most he wanted to get it over and done with. That Azula and her men would show up at this very moment so that they could beat the shit out of them and celebrate their victory. This waiting would only have a negative effect on their men and slow them down. It could be morning any moment now.

Men started chattering and gathering around the towers and walls. They were pointing towards the sea and yelling. The two rivals got up, both climbing their way up the walls. And there it was, the horizon usually emanating the first sun beams, now presenting and entire float of Fire Nation ships coming right at them. The first black snow fell down on the North Pole having brought chaos and panic as well. But they were ready to take it on, already heading for their correct position and waiting for their turn to attack. It was now up to Nobu and the others to hold them up for as long as they could. Yet again, all they could do for now was wait.

* * *

Back in Ba Sing Se, everything and everyone was happy and peaceful. All was serene while Meisha and Uriou were walking down the streets in the hope of finding Uriou's family at the address they had been giving. Their hostess Jeng had handed them over the address this morning during breakfast and they had left immediately. They were arriving at the richer distract of the city with villas and spas. Here they would find Uriou's family, and Meisha stopped in front of an enormous driveway leading to a gigantic villa standing in the middle of the street, surrounded by dozens of different beautiful flowers with probably a pool at the back of the house. She looked up surprised and stared at the distant house number 233.

"This is it?" She asked herself surprised and checked the address again. Maybe the wrong street?

"Really?" Uriou stared at it from a distance too, also overwhelmed by the house's seize. "And I thought our house was big."

It was like Uriou was afraid to walk that everlasting driveway and ring the door, still standing there with his feet nailed to the ground. Meisha looked at him from the side to see his blank expression on his face, not really sure what she should think of it. Instead of running to that house, he kept his place and held his breath. It reminded her of the first time she had returned home after having run away for three days. He was probably experiencing the same feeling.

"It's okay," and she held his hand so that he looked at her, "I'm here for you." Suddenly, he felt more confident and squeezed her hand tight, ready to confront his parents. After all, he wanted to know if both of them had survived.

After a fierce knock on the door, there first was silence and then a hurried noise, the unlocking of a lock and the opening of a dragging door that wouldn't open that easily. They were face to face with a beautiful woman with tall brown curly hair, the same colour as Uriou's, and beautiful green eyes. Uriou froze to death looking at the woman's face while the woman herself gasped, staring back at him. A lingering silence followed and tears were dwelling in her eyes when she suddenly reached forward to hold her son in her arms, releasing all the grief she had bottled up for so many weeks when she finally saw her son back. She cried hysterically and didn't know how to hug him, touching every part of his body, thanking the spirits he was alive and unharmed. Lost in emotions, both forgot about Meisha standing next to them. But she wouldn't mind, she smiled when she saw how mother and son smiled happily as well.

"Here's some tea, with two lumps of sugar, just how you like it."

Uriou's mother Hina seemed like a very decent and caring mother, overflowing with energy and emotionally irascible. Rushing from left to right, making tea, searching for cookies, bringing the sugar, cleaning the room, there was few time to introduce and tell her about their journey. While she was in the kitchen still crying and attempting to cut and apple, Uriou explained his mother always acted like this and was a little 'touchy'. In a minute or five she'd probably gain her senses back and calm down.

Putting down a plate of fruit and biscuits, the tears had stopped but her eyes were still aching red, yet she tried smiling and finally sat down on the couch. "I'm so sorry, I'm just so relieved you're back honey. You have no idea how worried we were about you."

"Is dad here?" Uriou asked carefully. He had a better relationship with his mother. His father didn't really seem to care about him. Always busy with the family company and the future of their factory.

"He left a few minutes ago when we heard you were in town. We wanted to search for you but he told me to stay inside because, you know, I can act hysterical and embarrassed," she joked. So his father was out to go look for him. He did care about him.

"Oh I'm so sorry honey, what was your name again?"

"Mulan," Uriou answered. Meisha tried looking him in the eyes while he avoided them. Keeping her identity a secret was still important. Despite Uriou hated all of the lies, especially after their conversation yesterday evening, he still realized that.

"Mulan, of course, how silly of me. So tell me, how did you get here? What have you been doing?"

Both of them turned faces towards each other, staring blankly into each other's eyes, then turned their gaze to Hina again who smiled impatiently for an answer, being the rapturous mother as she was. "Nothing special," they answered synchronically and decided to leave things as they were. "We were both heading for Ba Sing Se and travelled together to the city," Uriou filled in and sat back with his arms in his neck.

"I see," she smiled happily.

Outside a breaching noise was going on drawing most of their attention. Hina got up to open the curtains and see for herself what was going on. Thousands and thousands of soldiers were parading through the city with people following them with their cheers. Everyone was making a big stir out of it. Hina closed the curtains again and sat back on the couch, already getting the nerves. "All this commotion about a new war, I don't like any of it."

"Is it that serious mom?"

"Serious enough the Earth King sends his best soldiers to the North Pole. The city will be an easy target once the soldiers have left the country," she sighed.

"The North Pole?" This time it was Meisha's time to feel like her heart had stopped beating. Why were they heading for the North Pole? What was going on?

"The Rebellions are targeting the North Pole. Apparently they have gained enough disciples to establish a new army. They say Azula wants to reconquer the world and purify it from all other elements so that firebenders and non-benders only remain."

Wired up, Meisha stood up and head for the door, Uriou's mother watching how her son followed her and grabbed her by the wrist. "Where are you going?!" he hissed, "there's nothing you can do!"

"I have to talk to the Earth King," she answered determined, that fierce look in her eyes again like the first day they met and she tried to kill him.

"To say hye?! Have some coffee?! You really think the Earth King would free time to talk to a little waterbender?"

"Not to a waterbender. To the Water Warrior."

"You're insane!"

"You don't understand!" While their conversation had been fierce whispers up till now, she had suddenly raised her voice and looked him obstinate in the eyes. She didn't care about her identity anymore and that it was dangerous to tell everyone. "I have to do this for my people! I have a duty, Uriou! The world needs me and I'm not going to let them down! My father and mother, my family and friends, everyone is waiting for me! I'm sick of pretending, the lies and running away! I want to fight at the front to protect everyone I love and I hold dear! It's time the world knows their Water Warrior has returned and that I won't let them down!"

The door closed with a loud bang and Uriou stared at it, overwhelmed by Meisha's determination. There was no way he could stop her. He turned around and looked at his mother with her mouth full with teeth. "W-water W-warrior?" She stuttered. This was one of those times his mother would faint. Uriou didn't respond. He watched the floor, thinking and considering the possibilities. He was a real fool for doing this, but he couldn't let her go on her own. Even though he was finally reunited with his family. Meisha had finally found her resolve and he would be there for her this time. "Mother," he sighed and opened the door, not facing her. "Tell dad I'm doing fine. I'll make you proud."

* * *

**Please, review review review! ShadowOfSelfDestruction **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Conspiracy **

There was something odd going on that day at the Ba Sing Se palace. While they would've expected guards surrounding them at their arrival so that they probably would've had to work their way through the lines of soldiers, the royal palace was as good as abandoned. It could appear the Earth King had sent all of his soldiers to the frontlines, nevertheless, there are always soldiers who have to stay behind in order something happens to the city. So why was it that no one was here, not even a single servant. As the pair walked their way inside, the clacking noise of their sandals echoing through the entire building, it left behind a cold chill that would run a shiver all the way down her spine. Meisha remembered how busy it used it be here when she was little. She always ended up keeping her brother on a leash to prevent him from getting lost in the palace. So where was everyone?

"There's something wrong."

"Like I don't know that," and she rolled her eyes and folded her arms when they both took halt in front of the gigantic door that would take them right to the Earth King. That is, if he was home.

"I don't think we should enter."

"I have to –" and before she finished that last sentence they were trapped in some sort of metal rope that separated the two of them. Two – so it appeared – metal benders were picking them from the ground like fishes in the sea and dragged them all the way down to the other side of the room with just one single rope attached to their foot. Yet before they had time to struggle, a woman's voice too familiar spoke from behind the throne. She clapped her hands in a slow and mocking gesture while showing herself, leaving the waterbender with her mouth full teeth. "Well well _Mulan_," she grinned and stopped the clapping, "you're still naïve."

"Azula... I'll get you for this!" Trying to get out of the metalbender's hands, Azula took surprised a step back seeing the young girl's rage. Something was different about her, she seemed to have more confidence.

"Unfortunately it was I who got you darling, and a little extra it appears."

As the firebender slowly paraded towards Uriou and grabbed his face with more fierce one could've imagined with a woman, her eyes inspected the young adult. From a distance they could both hear Meisha yelling she had to leave him alone but this wouldn't keep her from examining him.

"Oh. An earthbender, what a lovely surprise."

Uriou's eyebrows raised. How in the world did she know that, just by seeing his face?

"What do you want Azula?!" By this the princess fiercely spun around and faced her opponent at the other side of the room. Eyes with fire met. She really seemed different. "I am here to negotiate."

"Don't make me laugh! Since when did you prefer trading? You take everything you can get!"

"Oh but I need you to get me the thing I need." That ominous smile of her didn't promise something good. "You're going to help me get the Fire Warrior."

Her eyes flushed open once she had spelled out the words Fire Warrior. Azula's smile became wider as she noticed she finally received the attention she wanted from her prisoner.

"And why the hell would I help you with that."

"Oh but I'm not going to convince you with dozens of reasons why you should," and the princess danced around in the palace acting like she owned this place until she arrived at the spot where her other victim was standing, toying with a sharp knife near his throat, enjoying the sweat of fear rolling from his forehead on the ground. "I'll crush you until you cooperate spontaneously."

* * *

"Secure all the gates! Support the main palace! Don't let anyone in!"

"Understood Sir!"

"Sir, the rebellions broke through the city's gate!"

"God damn it!" With all the power left in his limbs, he hit the metal walls from the ship so hard that it tingled through the entire ship. His men watched with all agony at their commander in charge that dropped his hammers to the ground and fell on his knees. Nobu was broken, exhausted and disgusted with his own hands who had taken the lives of many foes today. They were drained in all kinds of different blood types, but still it had been hopeless. The enemy had overpowered them. Although they were only facing non-benders, Azula was always one step ahead of them. They had benders, she had weapons.

"Sir!" and one of his man kneeled down to support his commander. His legs were feeble, wounded by several gunshots and cuts, only few of his team had survived. Most of them were killed and those who weren't were left behind only so that the enemy could continue to face the next district. It appeared that quality wasn't enough to beat quantity.

"We will support the main gate, prepare to leave." His breath was prostrate and talking became difficult. The man supporting him felt how Nobu heavily leaned against him, having no energy left to stand up on his own.

"But Sir, you are wounded. We should take the catacombs and go to the healers –"

"There's no time! Just drop me here, those who are still capable to fight leave!

"But Sir –"

"That's an order!"

And thus, as their captain had commanded, those who were still capable to endure battle left the ship to help the others, leaving their outrageous captain behind. With wounds all over his body so deep it would definitely leave scars, he was losing too much blood for him to be good. His sight became faint, his lungs felt heavy, the air was thick and his body felt cold and stiff. Struggling to keep his eyes open, for closing them would mean he could die here at this very moment, he thought back about his past, all the stupid things he had done in his life, how foolish he had been at that time. Children of the generation after the hundred year war were so blind and careless. Now here he was fighting a war on his own, as captain for Yue's sake. How foolish he had been those days, how stupid he had been to accept the position as captain. It was all up to his friend Kenshin now, and of course Amaya.

Forgive me for closing my eyes Amaya, I don't think I can hold on much longer.

* * *

"Kenshin, secure the palace!"

"On my way!" Children of the next generation were blind to war. Until they end up in one themselves. That was what Kenshin experienced right now, and Jianguo as well. With the help of some quick firebending he worked his way through the rebellions, walking the long stairs leading to the palace's gates. While the enemy was trying to work their way in the palace with explosions, they were suddenly burned to ashes as the Fire Warrior himself granted them the honour of meeting him. With a few fierce fire fists they were quickly finding themselves at the other side of the tribe with burn marks. More of them were coming once he had cleared the entire stairs and he shot them one by one down with fire.

"Stop toying with them Kenshin! They might be the enemy, they still are people!"

Jianguo pushed his back against his and fought side by side clearing the left corner of the palace while Kenshin took the right. With ice needles he always tried aiming for the vital spots to make it a quick and clean kill. Sometimes he missed though, and they would end up in the throat so that they died a painful dead.

"Hold them off as long as you can. I'll try sealing the door."

"Understood," and he wiped out another six or five of them running screaming towards the gate. Behind him Jianguo was gathering enough water and placed one layer after another of ice on the door to make it thicker so that the enemy wouldn't break through it. He jumped up when a soldier nearly tried stabbing him before he dropped on his knees with a Fire Nation knife in his throat. Vomiting his own blood, the man fell before the heir's feet. Jianguo's blue eyes looked at the Fire Warrior in front of him, sending him an angry glare, wondering why that was necessary.

"You're welcome," he spouted back and took on another fighting position.

The chaos around them seemed to whimper. It was so faint and weak but it sounded horrifying. As the footsteps of a man arrived and took one stair at a time, first a normal step and then the sound of metalwork hitting the ice. It continued until that man arrived at last at the top of the stairs in front of the palace's gate. Both Kenshin and Jianguo took fighting positions and prepared for a heavy fight. They were facing half a metal man nevertheless. Disguised in black rope and face covered in wrappings he faced both of them. They could hear each other breathing as other sound had become blank. He moved his hand and they prepared, but instead of drawing a sword he started unwrapping his bandages one by one. Jianguo didn't get it, he watched how the man's face slowly became visible. Long brown hair and black eyes, small scars on his face, everywhere, one deep scar across his eye, deep wrinkles. He seemed so old and tired. And why did it seem like the man was experiencing a great grief.

"Lord Kenshin, son of Lord Bai Sen and Lady Jiali."

Jianguo looked at the Fire Warrior standing next to him with an indescribable expression on his face. He had left his fighting position for what it was and just stood there, his eyes flustered open and almost shaking. He even had troubles controlling his hands, clenching them and stretching them. Jianguo's eyes wandered from foe to friend several times, examining the hate written on Kenshin's face towards this man. What was their connection to each other, how did they know one another? This couldn't be good.

"I am here to negotiate."

"Don't listen to him Kenshin, he's probably just trick –" But Kenshin silenced his commander without slipping an eye from the metal man. Obviously, this was something far deeper that could only be solved by Kenshin alone. Therefore, he didn't need Jianguo's help. His hate for this man was just too great to listen to a sane voice. Holding his ground, the man quickly understood he wanted more information.

"The stake is the Water Warrior."

Both benders' eyes widened. These were the men who had held Meisha captive all along. At that moment something snapped in Kenshin's mind. Before he even knew it, tears dwelled up. But he wasn't afraid to shed them, even though Jianguo was standing next to him. "And the terms?"

"You."

So even after all these years, they were still after him?

"You killed my nephew." Jianguo turned fearfully his face to his comrade trembling all over, trying to suppressing all of his anger. "You hurt my mother." He couldn't control his anger anymore. It was so overwhelming. How could he had foreseen that one day he would actually face the man once more that had killed his nephew. Moreover, he had thought all those years he was dead, and at last he showed up again, only to claim his powers again? For still the same damn goal as so many years ago?! It was disgusting, embarrassing, this was asking for revenge, how could he possibly face this man and not kill him after all he'd done to him?! "And you stole the only person I love!"

"Kenshin..." Jianguo tried to calm him down but it was hopeless.

"No, you won't get away with this anymore, freak! I'll kill you! And after that I'll kick and punch your dead body for pleasure! I'll burn you down till there's nothing left but a rotten pile of ash!"

In the end Kenshin could threaten him as much as he wanted, there were few things who could scare a metal man with a broken heart that was left with nothing but the ash he was talking about. Yet it was his insensitive face that didn't move a muscle that fired Kenshin up even more. Enough to already taste the blood from his wounds yet to be given. The noise of a roaring battlefield had slowly began returning again encouraging his lust for revenge. Jianguo withdrew. This was a fight to be won by him alone, for honour, something the Fire Nation still considered more important than achievement.

"Kenshin." He looked up hearing his name from his team leader, by now metres away from him and ready to secure the palace gates on his own with the little enthusiasm he had left. "Come and help me out once you cleaned him up, will you," he smiled, then nonchalantly turned around and moved out.

By the time Jianguo had taken off, Kenshin moved out as well towards his opponent going for a full strike with a ball of fire in his right hand. But instead of diving away, he seized for it and hit it with his metal fist that put out the fire like a sole candle. With now his right hand stuck, Kenshin tried the same thing with his other hand which was being dodged again. So there he was, right in front of his foe with both hands trapped in his, inhaling his breath. But he wasn't finished, not quite yet, and his sly smirk managed to provoke his enemy at least a little.

Bending fire from his feet, Saburo let go once the heat was almost burning up his face and he flew in the air landing back on his feet a few metres away. He began shooting fire fists one by one, easily deflected of course, little did he know it was just a distraction. It bought him enough time to pick up the sword of a corpse so that the real game could commence. Bending a circle of fire around them like he was fencing off their battlefield, Saburo was quickly closed in by flames and had no choice but to gain distance. Blue flames were coming from his sword that resembled Azula's. "Where do you think you're going," Kenshin smiled and with every step he took the circle was getting smaller and smaller. Trying to look for an opening with more fear he would've ever hoped to have, he found no exit. This time however, it was time he showed the tricks up to his sleeve as well. He might not be a bender, he was still a worthy warrior.

He casted a small spherical, about the size of a marble, that rolled before Kenshin's feet. Looking disappointed at it, he laughed and watched how Saburo was still standing over there as tough as ever.

"Scatter."

You had to fight fire with fire in order to survive. It was a prototype fire bomb blowing up everything in its direct environment of 3 metres. Kenshin was hurt badly, but a few scathes weren't enough to take him down. When he started using throwing knives he protected himself with a fire barrier and casted them right back at him. It would only cause a few scratches, but at least they were even.

Using the same trick as in the beginning he bended fire from his feet again to gain distance with his enemy, using his sword from an attack in the air. He dodged it with his metal arm however and pushed him aside. He pulled out a gun and started shooting at him. Trying to cast off most of the bullets, one of them hit his arm and his entire defence broke down. Saburo held his fire as the kid reached for his arm and cried out. His mission was to capture the Fire Warrior, not to kill him. Furthermore, he was still to be used as weapon short after capturing him so he couldn't injure him severely. However, fighting with such a stubborn foe required some serious actions.

The fire ring began fading away and Saburo dropped his gun. Thinking the fight was already over, he walked to his prisoner when he suddenly, despite the fact he was losing a lot of blood, stood on his feet again and held another position that was apparently another one of his bending tricks.

_One fireblast. Ducking and a low firewhip. One jump in the air and bending the fire with your feet. _

"Not yet," he whispered and remembered the words of his master, the training he had endured to achieve his skills. He couldn't give up, the fight hadn't even started yet, he was capable of doing more.

_It's not about being strong, it's about being skilled._

_Form a firerope, turn it around, form a passage of fire, and bend the fire away by lowering your hands smoothly._

In his right hand, he bended a firerope which he flipped around until it became a circle. With his left he bended the fire forward and created a passage of fire. In the middle of the passage was Saburo standing, screaming out as the fire was eating from his skin and burning up his clothes. In a desperate attempt he managed to break through the wall and dropped himself on the ice cold floor of the Northern Tribe's landscape until he was looking at the feet of the Warrior. Looking up, the Warrior took a deep breath and moved his arms into a strange position, when suddenly the first blue electricity started making a creaking noise at the tops of his fingertips. Once the energy was gathered at the tops of his index - and middle finger, he pointed it straight towards Saburo and smiled wickedly before firing the lightning straight at his head. So the Fire Warrior had finally managed to make lightning? This was perfect for Azula.

Kenshin bended the lightning at full speed, aiming for the head, but at the very last moment the man pushed his arm aside as stabbed him with a small knife in his stomach. Automatically he grasped for it and fell on his knees before the man. His skin might've been burned from top till toe, he had a mission to fulfil for his princess. With blood dripping from his lips and shaky hands he pulled out the knife and threw it aside. Losing a lot of blood, with a wound in the stomach and a bullet in the arm, he was broken and finished, losing conscious. Thinking the battle was finally over, Saburo first treated his wound before he would lose too much blood so he bounded it. Kenshin could only cooperate because his body was too weak by now to struggle, when he suddenly heard the familiar noise of a waterbender bending water into ice and throwing it like needles, yet not fast enough to hit the target.

With his head still a little tilted to the right, he turned around slowly and looked the heir to the Northern Water Tribe straight in the eyes. Annoyed he had interfered his work, he pulled out another gun and aimed for his heart. Kenshin noticed it and warned his friend before it was too late. "He has a gun – !"

A cold silence fell upon the Northern Water Tribe as the sound of a shooting gun echoed through the entire palace. The heir of the throne fell down on his knees and grasped for the aching pain in his chest caused by a bullet. He clenched on to it with a trembling hand and coughed up blood, breathing heavy and short. Oblivious to his own pain, Kenshin gathered his strength and ran to his commanding officer, the colour of the ice slowly taking shape of the colour red. Lying on the ice cold surface of his kingdom, the Fire Warrior turned him around to see the damage with hands trembling as much as his. He was losing too much blood and looked nearly as pale as a firebender. Yet still he had a smile on his face when he saw his arch enemy's shocked face worrying about him. It was funny considering how they first hated each other and today he would die right next to him.

"Stop laughing, idiot!" and he desperately ripped off a sleeve from his shirt, keeping a pressure on his wound to stop the bleeding. He really hated this guy, especially after all that had happened, but there was just no way he was going to die today.

"Kenshin," he coughed and tried pushing his hands away, "stop it."

"Don't talk!"

Jianguo's voice had never sounded so prostrate. Being the confident and selfish man he was, he never regretted anything, and he was not the kind of person to give up. But even he knew that there were certain moments when you had to. His time had come, and he would die honourable.

"Protect Meisha, will you?"

"Don't ask such stupid questions, idiot! If you talk any longer you're going to die!"

"You know," he continued, his past slowly flashing by like a short movie as his last seconds were running near. He didn't feel the cold of the ice anymore, nor did he feel Kenshin's hands on his wound trying to stop it from bleeding. Even his friend's face had become vague. There was just one thing he needed to tell someone before he died because he considered it more important than saying goodbye for the last time. "I..." and he trembled while speaking his last words, "I really did love her."

* * *

"Did you find any survivors?"

"None."

Two young soldiers had headed to the boats to find any survivors. On the ground there were hundreds of dead soldiers piled up like paperwork, most of them with eyes and mouth still open. Some were men, others were about their age.

Among them were two female healers that needed to heal those who were still alive and to be saved. The only problem was, they didn't find any survivors. There had been one man up till now. No, rather a kid. He was probably 17 years old. He was still alive, but they put him into a silent sleep of eternity to put him out of his misery. The healers had told them he couldn't be saved anymore. One of the soldiers made up the lie they were going to anaesthetize him before treatment so he could die with a smile on his face. It felt disgusting of course, but what was there left for them to do?

"Wait, isn't that the captain?"

They noticed a corpse that was wearing the armour of a captain and once arriving before struggling their way through the many kills they recognized his face as well. He was leaning against a part of a boat torn to pieces, eyes closed and a painfully cold skin. "It's the Earth Warrior."

"He's dead."

A healer kneeled down and began investigating the body with the blue glowing water like gloves around her hand. All healers carried healing water from the spiritual cave underneath the palace. Stealthy the water disappeared inside the body.

"He's not dead," and both soldiers looked up as the other healer kneeled beside her and took out her spiritual water as well, immediately starting to treat their captain with all might she had. "He's not dead! Quick, get him to the hide-out! We can still save him!"

* * *

**I'm sorry for the long update, I've been very busy these days and apparently the story's getting kind'a dragging so I was out of inspiration etc. At any rate, those who asked for some action, here you go. Sorry if the chapter is a little short but it was better to end it here so that I could begin an entire new situation in the next chap. **

_**Please do not add as favourite or follow without review, ShadowOfSD **_


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